The announcement that LeBron James would be recording a live episode of his podcast Mind The Game at Fanatics Fest in New York on Thursday provided reason to believe that he might finally be announcing his free agency destination. And the announcement that Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton would be stepping in for Hall-of-Famer Steve Nash as co-host provided the tiniest glimmer of hope that maybe — just maybe — James might shock the world and pick Indiana.
But perhaps predictably given James’ track record, neither suspicion came to pass. According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, who was reporting live from New York, James shook off a question from Haliburton early about his decision and suggested that he hasn’t made a choice yet. And Haliburton later acknowledged that he knows James isn’t considering the Pacers and he gave up on his recruiting efforts some time ago.
According to McMenamin, Haliburton said that he texted James in June to try to recruit him to the Pacers before the NBA’s all-time leading scorer announced that he would be leaving the Lakers for his 24th season. Haliburton said James texted back two laughing crying emojis and Haliburton acknowledged that was the end of his recruiting efforts.
Haliburton tried to press James on a destination early in the show but James jokingly denied him asking, “Didn’t we talk about this already in the back.” McMenamin posted video at the end of the episode of Haliburton starting to ask James, “Is there a decision yet?” But he then said, “I’m playing. No decision.”
James thanked the Lakers organization at length and and also took a question about free agency from a young fan from New York which also suggested he hadn’t made a choice yet.
“It’s a big decision,” James said. “It’s the third time in my career I’ve been a free agent. … It’s a big decision for not only myself but my family as well. It’s the last part of my career, wherever I want to spend the last few years or the last year or the last two years of my NBA career.”
Dustin Dopirak covers the Pacers all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Pacers Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Tyrese Haliburton tried to recruit LeBron James in free agency … LeBron laughed
Reporting by Dustin Dopirak, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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By Dustin Dopirak, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
