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LeBron James says he would have gone full Eli Manning if Grizzlies won 2003 draft lottery
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- LeBron James says he would have gone full Eli Manning if Grizzlies won 2003 draft lottery
LeBron James says he would have gone full Eli Manning if Grizzlies won 2003 draft lottery appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
While making his YouTube golfing debut on Thursday , LeBron James went on a rant about the Memphis Grizzlies . Not only did he pretty much bash the entire city, but the future Hall of Famer also claims he might have pulled an "Eli Manning" had the franchise won the 2003 NBA Draft Lottery.
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In the clip, the 41-year-old forward claims he thinks the organization should move out of Memphis and instead relocate to Nashville, Tennessee. It sounds like James simply doesn't like the city of Memphis, and he sort of jokes that if the Grizzlies had the rights to draft him in 2003, he may have sat out and forced the team to trade him.
"I'm f***ing 41 years of age. You think I want to do sh** in f****** Memphis on a random a** Thursday?" said James. "I'm not the first guy in the NBA to talk about this. You guys got to move the team… go over to Nashville already… Their only chance [to sign me] was in 2003 if they had won the lottery. And I might've pulled an Eli Manning and not show up."
Sitting out and forcing a trade is exactly what Eli Manning did in the 2004 NFL Draft. The then-San Diego Chargers selected Manning No. 1 overall. However, due to his refusal to play for the organization, the front office traded him to the New York Giants for a package involving the No. 4 overall pick in that draft, Philip Rivers.
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The Grizzlies actually had a real chance at winning the 2003 NBA Draft Lottery. Memphis initially traded its 2003 first-round pick to the Detroit Pistons in 1997. However, had the club won the lottery and owned the No. 1 pick, then it would have remained with the Grizzlies.
Memphis landed the No. 2 overall pick in the lottery instead, which allowed the Pistons to keep the pick and select Darko Milicic, passing on Carmelo Anthony , Chris Bosh , and Dwyane Wade . Of course, LeBron James went No. 1 overall that year to the Cleveland Cavaliers .
Related: Grizzlies' Brandon Clarke arrested in Arkansas with controlled substances, fleeing vehicle charges
