The biggest sports stars are now their own brands, and their loyalty belongs to their brand alone, writes Dallas Cothrum. Pictured here, LeBron James (left), who recently announced he is not returning to play for the Lakers.
Mark J. Terrill/AP
On July 8, 2010, ESPN aired “The Decision,” a 75-minute, self-serving broadcast in which NBA superstar LeBron James announced his departure from his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers. I had seen Geraldo Rivera’s “The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults” back in 1986. I didn’t think any media event could be worse. ESPN proved me wrong. Now LeBron is doing it again.
Last week, James’s agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, hosted a similarly awful podcast and reviewed all of his client’s options. Even for a podcast it was bad, but it once again created more advertising for James. I think of him much as I do the Dallas Cowboys — a marketing machine who sometimes plays sports.
I’m tired of professional athletes holding the fans hostage about whether they will be coming back to play another year. Brett Favre was the first I remember. The past few seasons it’s been Aaron Rodgers in the NFL. He denied loving all the drama saying, “I’m not holding anyone hostage and have been upfront with every team… I’m open to anything and attached to nothing.”
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Indeed, that’s the problem: The biggest sports stars are now their own brands, and their loyalty belongs to their brand alone. Their teams and the fans mean little.
You’d think one media disaster would be enough for James. He was pilloried for the 2010 broadcast. Prominent NBA writer Adrian Wojnarowski proclaimed, “What a spectacle, what a train wreck, what a shame.”
ESPN turned the network over to him for more than an hour. He picked the time slot and who did the interview, if you could call the softballs Jim Gray lobbed up for him an interview.
After an hour of horrible television, James finally uttered the now famous gibberish, “In this fall… man, this is very tough… in this fall, I’m going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat.” Later he claimed, “It was a tough decision because I know how loyal I am.”
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His comments are considered one of the worst public relations disasters in sports history. It came off as arrogant and insensitive. Instead of simply saying he was signing with Miami, he informed America his talents were some sort of independent commodity he was bestowing on a new city.
James had kept his team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, in the dark until the live reveal. Meanwhile, preparations were already underway in Miami for a welcome party attended by thousands of fans.
It was at this event he promised the Heat would win “not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven championships.”
I was elated, along with much of the nation, when our underdog Mavericks took down James and the Heat to win the 2011 NBA championship. Sports dynasties are not proclaimed; they are earned. In the end, James didn’t even stay in Miami for eight years; he was there for four, winning two titles.
He also made it much worse in defeat, saying, “At the end of the day, all the people that was rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day they got to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today.”
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These are the comments people should recall when thinking about LeBron James. He is undoubtedly one of the best basketball players in history. But rather than let his skills speak for themselves, he wanted to make his own media cycle. It failed. He became someone people root against, especially in Dallas.
On the podcast, Paul first announced his client would no longer be playing in Los Angeles where, in another Dallas connection, former Maverick Luka Dončić is James’ teammate.
Paul also informed everyone LeBron is now unconcerned about his pay. “Money will not dictate where he goes,” the agent said. To be clear, that wasn’t an offer to play for free. James will still make millions.
Then Paul somehow needed to claim LeBron is much better than Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan was at an advanced age. Why and how did Ryan get dragged into this? Better be careful. Big Tex has been known to rumble.
Paul confusingly covered the Mavericks’ chances to obtain James’ talents, laying a lot on team president Masai Ujiri. “Dallas and Masai. Now in Dallas they got oil and they got golf. You get Macau and Sands Group. In Masai you got the whole continent of Africa. A lot comes with Dallas and Masai,” Paul said.
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It was all just more silly comments that are designed to generate excitement among NBA fans as loyal to James’ brand as he is. We’ve seen this magic trick before; we know it’s fake.
We also know James is fake. His most candid statement came after moving to Miami. He noted, “I wanted to do what was best for LeBron James and what would make him happy.”
Dallas Cothrum knows using third-person is never a good sign.
James will do what’s best for James. That’s his team. It makes me grateful Dallas’ greatest NBA superstar was a team player. Dirk Nowtzki always exhibited modesty and loyalty. And he never held fans hostage.
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