Jim Gray looks back at LeBron’s “Decision”
Jim Gray joined the show on the one-year anniversary of LeBron James’ “The Decision.” Gray did the interview for what has become a very controversial event over the last year.
Gray explained he was at a restaurant in Los Angeles during the NBA finals and ran into Maverick Carter. Agent Ari Emanuel was there and thought it was a great idea. Gray asked if he could do the first interview, since he had a long history with LeBron James. That evolved into them airing the decision live.
Dan asked Gray what LeBron’s mood was like before. “You could tell this wasn’t something was easy for him,” Gray said. “It wasn’t jovial. There wasn’t any champagne or any corks going off. … I think it was a tough deal for him.”
Gray thinks it was harder than people realized for LeBron to leave Cleveland. “I think he tried his best to stay a Cavalier,” Gray said. “I think it was hard for him to recruit anyone.”
Gray said he didn’t know where LeBron was going before he asked. He said he wanted to be real, and he didn’t want to risk giving up the information.
“I could tell by the time he sat in the chair, he was not staying in Cleveland,” Gray said.
Gray said that part of the reason everyone is so upset with LeBron is partly because he didn’t go to all those other cities. Gray said he’s surprised so many people are still so angry about it.
Dan asked if he could have a mulligan, what would he do differently. Gray said he wished that he explained why they were at the Boy’s and Girl’s club.
Gray said that he’s upset people lie about him. Especially when they say that LeBron paid Gray to do the interview. Gray said that he didn’t get paid at all … it was for charity. “I wasn’t going to be the only going to be paid,” Gray said.