Apparently, LeBron James was recruiting players to Cleveland even while playing against them.
At least that’s what former Cavaliers guard Delonte West recalled. Yes, James supposedly asked him to come to Cleveland while West was still playing for the Seattle SuperSonics.
And yes, this conversation supposedly happened during a game.
“We were playing Cleveland, out in Seattle, the first month of the season, and I was cooking them,” West said during an appearance on the ODEE ENTV YouTube channel, via HoopsHype.
West said he and James were standing at the foul line when LeBron brought up watching West play at Saint Joseph’s. Then came the recruiting pitch.
“He was like, man, you want to come play with Cleveland?” West recalled. “I thought he was just doing a veteran trick. … I thought he was just trying to get me out of my game by getting familiarity. But he was serious.”
Very serious, apparently. West was traded to the Cavs in February 2008 as part of a massive three-team, 11-player deadline deal. He immediately became an important part of the rotation, starting all 26 games after arriving.
The following season was arguably West’s best in the NBA. He averaged a career-high 11.7 points while starting 64 games for a Cavaliers team that went 66-16.
West ultimately spent parts of three seasons in Cleveland and played in 35 playoff games for the franchise. So perhaps LeBron knew what he was doing.
West thought James was trying to distract him at the foul line. Turns out he might have been conducting roster construction.
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