76ers owner Josh Harris on the recruitment of LeBron James
Josh Harris, the managing partner of the Philadelphia 76ers, discusses the recruitment of LeBron James in an interview with CNBC senior sports reporter Mike Ozanian.
76ers owner Josh Harris on the recruitment of LeBron James originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
Can you first start off by taking me through sort of the step-by-step process about how LeBron James became a Philadelphia 76er?
You know, the people involved, when you got involved, and sort of how it all came together.
Sure.
I mean, obviously we went into the off-season and then, we were busy at work.
I mean, obviously Mike Yancy came on the scene.
Bob Myers, was involved.
He got more involved.
And, the first thing that happened was we, you know, the, the Jaylen Brown trade, came up, obviously, and that was incredible, opportunity for the franchise.
And so we concluded that trade.
And before, before that we had joked, well, LeBron had opted out from the Lakers, and we said, "Well, maybe we'll go after him."
Like, man, we were kind of ha ha ha.
But then all of a sudden we had a really competitive team.
We took it really seriously after that, and we said, "Wait a second."
And so it was really everyone out for a pass.
You know, Mike obviously had, known LeBron for a long time.
Bob, obviously knew everyone on LeBron's team, as did I.
And so we were, you know, we all started really hitting the phones and, really, trying to, get in the, the game.
And then, you know, he did an incredible job, and his team did an incredible job.
He's very thorough- Mm-hmm of figuring out where he wanted to be, where he thought the chemistry was right, where he liked the people, where he liked the ownership, the front office.
But at the end of the day, I think it came down to where he thought he could win, and then where he thought, it would be right to spend the last chapter of his career.
And I'm so grateful and happy that he chose, our franchise, he chose Philadelphia.
And, you know, we can't wait to get started.
It's gonna be a really fun season for us, and, looking forward to really being competitive.
He's already having an impact on the franchise.
