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The Los Angeles Lakers' president of basketball
operations sat in a car for an hour outside LeBron James'
Southern California home on the night of June 30 before the
NBA's free agency period opened.
The meeting started promptly at 9:01 p.m. PT, and the next day,
James announced that he was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to
sign with the Lakers.
Johnson told Spectrum SportsNet on Tuesday of his talk with
James, "We had a great time of going back and forth, here we
are, two guys, similar. Both from the Midwest. Both grew up
poor. Both love to compete. Both love to win, and I think both
excel at the highest level. We connected right when I walked in
the door. Just two guys that talk free to each other, and talk
basketball, and that's what I love about LeBron."
James didn't need to be sold on the Lakers, according to
Johnson.
"He already knew the team. Almost better than I did," Johnson
said. "He broke the roster down right in front of me. 'Kuz likes
to do this, so and so likes ... oh I can't wait, this guy is
this.' I was like, man, he knows the entire roster. Loves (coach
Luke Walton's) system. He said Earvin, you know, I just want to
come and be able to just play basketball and be me. And you have
the type of roster, I think, that I think I can do that."
In the same Spectrum SportsNet interview, Lakers general manager
Rob Pelinka detailed how he learned the franchise-changing news
that James was joining the club.
"I was outside around 4 or 4:30 p.m. (on July 1), saying, 'I
wonder when we're going to find out the answer?' because LeBron
and his camp was meeting with another team that day," Pelinka
said. "At about 5 p.m., I got a text from LeBron's agent, Rich
Paul, and the text just said 'Congrats.' And it had balloons.
"It was one of those moments in life you'll never, ever forget.
Everything went into slow motion. 'Does this mean what I think
it means?' He called seconds later with the official news."
--Field Level Media
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