LeBron James: Cuban is ‘Very Sly Guy’

LeBron James spoke with a few teams this summer before he decided on the Miami Heat. The Dallas Mavericks were one of those teams. ESPN spoke with LeBron as Dallas and Miami met up for the first time: “Cuban said he desperately tried to recruit James and his business manager, Maverick Carter, through a series of text messages after the July 1 start of free agency. Cuban tried to convince James he would be closer to winning a championship with the Mavericks than with the Heat. ‘Before he made his decision, what I told [James] … and what I told Maverick was no team had ever blown up their team to ground zero — well, I shouldn’t use those words — blown their team up of all of their core, and then added a couple of free agents and won a championship,’ Cuban said before the Mavs beat the Heat106-95 on Saturday at American Airlines Center. ‘It’s always taken someone to come into a good team, make it better, and put it over the top. That’s what I told him, and that’s what I told Maverick.’ … James said Cuban was ‘a very sly guy’ when he was informed before the game that the Mavericks owner had gone public with their text exchanges from the summer. James never had an official recruiting visit with Dallas, although he met with the Heat, New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers. ‘This is definitely one of the teams I looked at, being a veteran ballclub, they got a lot of winners on their team,’ James said of the Mavericks. ‘But you guys know where I ended up at. Mark is a very sly guy, man. He wants to win. He does what’s best for his team, and he’s very passionate about it.'”