Rich Paul Reveals How He Told the 76ers LeBron Was Signing There

Well the thing was, I was talking to Shams without telling him because I didn't want it to be too much time in between because I knew exactly what time we was going and I knew that it had to come from LJ first. Like LJ has to break his own news, let him break the news. But Shams would be right behind him and as a company we were going to be right behind him as well. So if you follow it, LJ broke his news but then Shams was probably 30 seconds after him and then obviously we did it from a company perspective because it's important for him to break his own news. But I just didn't want, first of all, I didn't want anybody knowing anything because it just gets sloppy. One thing that was out of the norm, I think this is probably the second time in a matter of a couple of years where nobody didn't know anything. I think what people don't understand is at a certain point you actually have to start letting people know. Like prime example, I had to have the conversation with Nike because they got to make shoes, they got to make product. And so in my conversation, I still didn't tell him where he was going but at a certain point and I'm sure Maverick's having a different conversation with all the business partners as well but at that point it's like hang up, go. The way LeBron handles his business and the way you and Mav handled it around him is really an example. It was so buttoned up, right? No one knew for sure. I didn't know for sure. Shams didn't know for sure. It's so buttoned up. He had the timing which I feel like I was ahead on enough and making sure I flagged that with Rich and then from there it's obviously his decision to make. But that, the Sixers, not only did it surprise me, it surprised the whole NBA. I can't say I was the only one that was shy. It surprised the Sixers. The easy move, of course, I think Cleveland is a going home, started there, end there. Miami, he played there. I think everyone around the league was like, okay, he's just going to do what is natural, what is expected. LeBron makes basketball choices. LeBron going to Miami was a basketball decision, right? That's basketball. LeBron going back to Cleveland is a basketball decision. The weakest basketball decision he made was the Lakers but based on their track record and what it would mean if LeBron was there and then the fact that Clutch had AD and AD wound up there, this was a basketball decision. Look at the basketball of it, right? Well, that's when everyone starts thinking about why it makes sense, right? And then it makes sense to everyone in the world, okay, this is why you picked it. Do you know how the Sixers found out? You tell me. No, but do you know? You don't know. Off my tweet or no? No, no. You texted them. Yeah, but I put all the owners, the entire front office, and Tyrese on one text because I couldn't. I didn't have time to text everybody. Yeah, you can't go one-by-one. I had to put them all in a group chat and all I could put is congratulations because it's me on the phone with Farah, LJ, Shams. He has to go. And think about this. A lot of things happening at once. But think about this. In the event you're somewhere and your Wi-Fi is faster than the others, it could go the other way. So these are conversations that we're actually having. It's a real conversation and obviously you want to be the ultimate respectful to him. It's his news to break. So you've got to do things accordingly. When did you find out he was going to Philly? I told you. We said it on the last show. Did we? Yeah. Like the confirmation confirmation was late, late the night before. But you had a sense before that? Yeah, I had a sense. At a certain point it's like, I think it's, I'm just not sure yet. Yeah, I had a sense. I mean, you know, look, you've been around a guy long enough to know, like, okay, I had a sense. And then the thing about it is I know it's real when Savannah's in the room. A decision has been made. It's real. This is real. All right. But with that being said, you still, you know, because you just never know, like you can wake up and a situation change, but then obviously, you know, it's like, because all this stuff, it has to be a bang, bang thing. And so you having conversations, you've got to talk to different people and you're still trying to protect yourself in case the mind does change because, you know, the mind can change overnight. You can wake up, we can go to sleep and it's this thing right here. That's why they say sleep on it. Yeah. Then you wake up and it's like, so although you had to kind of like preempt conversations and try to position things while trying to keep the news quiet. Do you think that the Celtics make the deal with the Sixers for Jalen Brown? No. If they knew that it comes with LeBron, the Celtics just set the Sixers up with Jalen Brown and LeBron. Well, I'm sure the Sixers hope, you know, they're getting the same result. I mean, as the Bucs, you know, when the Bucs traded Drew Holiday to Portland, then he gets rerouted. You know, it was a cause and effect that yes, they get Dame. And in this situation, the Celtics wanted Paul George and picks like that's their decision. That's what they chose to do. I don't think when they made the trade, they thought LeBron was going to go to Phil. But Max, if you would have heard our conversations one day before the trade and then two days after the trade, those conversations couldn't have been further apart, right? This couldn't have been further apart. It's just that's how things happen over time. Like they you know, there wasn't there wasn't even a radar on on Philly in that case. How quick after Jalen Brown goes to Philly, do you hear from the Sixers and you and LJ start talking about it? And it's like, yeah, this is this. That's the thing. We never really heard from the Sixers because the Sixers never really thought it was even a chance. And I talked to Bob a lot, you know, but we talk about other things. He never. And obviously, I talked to Tyrese all the time. No, never even thought it was a chance. We started having conversations about just basketball in itself and how things could play out and what it takes to actually win and where, you know, and, you know, not to get into everything, but there was there was several conversations. And as you know, all these decisions are layered. And I go again. We saw one whiteboard. But as you know, Max, we got 16 whiteboards. This is true. So when that came about, you start to envision things. You start to envision how you play, you start to. And so, you know, LeBron and I are breaking down. We broke down pretty much every team and where he would fit. And it was more teams than it was just on the board. You got to identify, OK, what OK, if there was an issue, what would be the issue and where would it possibly see this? This works against LeBron in public perception. I'll tell you why. Same thing with Floyd Mayweather, OK, because Floyd had the highest boxing IQ. LeBron has the highest basketball IQ. So when Floyd would choose an opponent, the assumption was for good reason, he's choosing that opponent because since he knows more than anyone else, even if it's it seems like, you know, whatever, that could be a tough opponent. So the assumption is, oh, Floyd's picking him because he sees the vulnerabilities and sees that he's going to beat him. And so he gets a little credit taken away. LeBron, because of his basketball IQ, is discredited because once he makes his choice, it's like, well, he must be picking the Sixers because he knows that's his best chance to win, even though they're still not favored to win the whole thing. So it kind of works. His basketball IQ works against him in terms of public perception. Paper versus play is two different things. Paper is the paper. You have to play. So, again, I think I don't think they're the favorites. I think there'll be a tough out. But I don't think they're the favorites. In year one, they're probably not the favorites in year one, but they're among the favorites. Yeah. Look, anytime you add LeBron to any basketball team, they're going to be among the favorites. That's never... And Jalen Brown. No. Not discrediting Jalen Brown. I mean, I think that's a huge addition because every... Say what you want. Every team is looking for an example of a Jalen Brown as a player. Dog. Physical. What was... Play both ends. Ramona reported. Ramona Shelburne. I'm assuming, right? He means Ramona Shelburne. Ramona Shelburne reported that she had a conversation with you, Rich, after LeBron chose the Sixers and said you originally thought he was headed to Miami. Can you explain more on how that thought process went down and the different factors that played into choosing Philly over the Heat? What I said was, you know, throughout the process, you would think that every other day a team was in the lead because you're going through this... In the lead because you're going through this emotional roller coaster. So one day it's Miami, the next day it's this team, et cetera. Did you ever hear Miami was in the lead at any point? Honestly, I didn't hear at any point that any team was in the lead. From a credible source. If I had, Rich knows I would have called him and I would have been banging down his doors. No one heard that. What I'm saying... It wasn't as literal as that. It's that through my conversations, the feeling you get from somebody in terms of the dialogue, you leave there feeling like, oh, well, you're leaning more towards this one now. So did he actually lean each way at some point? There was a lean. There was a heavy lean towards one or two others for sure. Yeah. Cleveland and Miami or who? Well, you know, one or two others. You hear so much that I was actually hoping... I know one thing the Shams don't know, but I won't say it. What is this about? Give me the topic. You let something slip past you in this entire process and you never knew it. But go ahead, Max. I want Max here. I'll get your brain to race you. What is it? Hold on. Is it? What is it in relation to? Just give me... Just the whole process. The whole... You didn't catch this one thing and I was surprised that you didn't catch it. I'm like, oh. I want to hear about this now. We got to hear about it. No one knew. No one knew about it. And they still don't know about it. And I might reveal it. So it's a bread crumb that you didn't pick up on? No, it's not a bread crumb. It's a loaf of bread. Now you tell me, Rich, if I'm right or wrong. Is it the Cavs front office group, Colby Altman, Brandon Weems, the Gilbert family, Grant Gilbert? Okay. What are you referring to? What happened? Meeting with LeBron in Akron in early July. Is that the loaf of bread you're talking about? Early July? Wait a minute. How did you know about that? I couldn't say. So you thought this got by Shams, but he has all the details. I thought it got by Shams because he never said anything to me about that. Nobody knew about that. That did not get out of nowhere. Nobody knew about that. Why was this not reportable? Why did you not report it? In real time. So in real time, the integrity aspect matters more than anything because this was information I was told by multiple people on background, off the record. This was something that ethically I couldn't report because one, it wasn't told to me in a way that I was able to have a reporter go double check and triple check. It was told to me off the record.