WASHINGTON — The president is on the record again about LeBron James — and this time, the people of Cleveland may be happier about it.
President Obama told CNN on Thursday that it would be a terrific story if the basketball superstar stayed with the Cleveland Cavaliers instead of switching teams as a free agent.
“I’ll be honest with you, and my folks in Chicago may be mad at me for saying this, but I think it’d be a wonderful story if LeBron says, ‘You know what, I’m going to stay here in Cleveland,'” Obama told Larry King, according to a transcript provided by CNN.
“He’s from Ohio. That’s a town that has had some tough times. For him to say, ‘I’m going to make a commitment to this city,’ you know, I think would be a wonderful thing.”
The president stuck to his point that James needs to find a winning situation with a good team and coach.
“He needs to be in a place where he’s got a coach and a team around him that can do what Phil Jackson and the Bulls did for Michael Jordan,” Obama said. “Michael Jordan couldn’t win a championship on his own. It’s all about having a team concept that works. He hasn’t quite gotten that yet and he needs to find that situation.”
Obama did not gently nudge James toward the Bulls, Obama’s hometown team, as the president did in an interview last month in an interview with Marv Albert on TNT.