Brooklyn-born Larry King must not be a Knicks fan — or a Nets fan. How else to explain why King never asked James directly about joining the Knicks — or Nets — during his extended, exclusive interview.
The Knicks’ involvement as a major player in July’s free agency is a major reason why the James hype has overshadowed the NBA Finals with his free-agent future even as he’s sat home in Akron, Ohio, the past few weeks — long gone from the playoffs.
King seems too savvy an interviewer not to broach the subject of the Knicks directly. Perhaps there were ground rules from James’ clan of advisors — go light on the Knicks and Brooklyn — for the hour-long sit-down conducted Tuesday and scheduled to air tomorrow.
The best King could do was mention Mayor Bloomberg’s plea to come to New York, and James hardly ran with it. Instead, James quickly changed the subject — and talked about President Obama’s recruiting pitch to Chicago.
No, the transcript hardly suggested James is plotting to play on Broadway. James seemed more excited about the Clippers.
James sounded more juiced about remaining in Cleveland, following Michael Jordan’s championship legacy in Chicago and even joining a talented corps in what he called “Clipperland” than lighting up Broadway.
Maybe it is Larry King’s fault for not pursuing the Knicks angle or the Brooklyn Nets/Jay-Z angle. (King supposedly was a diehard Brooklyn Dodgers fan once).
Or maybe it is just King James starting to shrink from the notion of competing on the biggest stage, playing in the world’s biggest city, in front of the NBA’s most passionate fans, under the league’s biggest microscope, in a city that knows basketball better than any other.
That is his prerogative, wanting to stay in his hometown and break the city’s title drought. Or leave for Chicago and add to the Bulls’ title collection. Or resurrect a dead Clippers’ franchise barely on the Hollywood map.
That would be a nice career, but not an iconic career. It would not come close to lifting Manhattan onto his back and carrying the Knicks franchise back to prominence, breaking the Knicks’ title drought that now stands at 37 years.
The Cleveland-Chicago-Clippers options are not even as good as becoming a Net, launching the Newark era and sailing across the Brooklyn Bridge in a couple of years and awakening the world’s most famous borough like Larry King’s Dodgers once did.
Based on the way James played in that second-round series vs. Boston, shrinking away in Game 5, committing nine turnovers in Game 6, maybe he feels he is not up to the enormous Page Six scrutiny New York brings, that it is too much of a risk to come here.
Perhaps the 25-year-old James signs for three years with the Cavaliers with an opt-out, and comes to New York when he feels more prepared for New York’s back pages. That is, if the Knicks still have cap room.
But by next June, if James’ Cavaliers are out of the playoffs early again, the King’s crown — not Larry’s — will have more tarnish and, worse, not as many fans outside Cleveland will care.