LeBron James News & Update: Magic Johnson Reveals Pitch That Brought James to The Lakers

LeBron James will be signing a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers that will have him playing for them for four years. After becoming a free agent following his stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the storied athlete met with Magic Johnson. Less than a day later, LeBron James agreed to become a part of the Lakers team with a $154 million contract.

In a conference call with reporters, Johnson revealed how he went about discussing the terms of a potential contract with the Lakers when he met with LeBron James. Apparently, the famed athlete had wanted Johnson to come alone while he met him with his agent, Rich Paul, USA Today reports. Clearly, the meeting was productive since LeBron James shortly agreed to sign on with the Lakers.

“He wanted to talk to me one-on-one; that’s what he wanted,” Johnson told a room full of reporters. “So I was happy to go and represent the Lakers, and talk basketball, talk strategy, talk winning, talk team, and talk players. All of it rolled into one.

“This guy is a basketball genius in terms of his mindset. And it was so funny, I think we both thought we were talking to ourselves when we’re looking at each other. We’re mirrors of each other when it comes to basketball mindset, championship DNA, and just playing the game the right way and also being a great teammate. That’s what it was. It was a lot of just basketball conversation. And as I told him, we want to get to the championship one day and he could be a big part of leading us back to that. That’s it.”

As CBS Sports notes, LeBron James agreeing to a four-year contract gives the Lakers that extra security in knowing that they have that much time to work with the player. This is quite different from how he dealt with the Cavaliers, which only ever got one-year contracts with him