LeBron James says he cried after turning down Reebok’s offer during the recruiting process

LeBron James signed with Nike in 2003, but almost ended up with Reebok instead.

James said he had three pitches, one each from Nike, Reebok and Adidas, during a recent appearance “New Heights.”

“My senior year, the process started. Recruiting, Nikes came and Adidas was still there, Reebok came, And1, all these companies came, and I took three pitches. I made an Adidas pitch, I made a Reebok pitch, I did a Nike pitch The best pitch I had, where I thought I was going to finish, was actually Reebok at one point,” James said.

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Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, #23, warms up before the game against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. (Kevin Jairaj-Imagine Image / IMAGN)

James said that Reebok brought it, and in their pitch, they showed theirs NFL gear.

“I don’t know if you remember this, but Reebok also had the NFL. So they also knew my love for football, so they had all the NFL jerseys, all the Pro Bowl-looking jerseys that will be next year, and I’m a senior in high school, I’ll go back to class the next day, my elder,” James said.

At the end of the pitch, Reebok executives gave James a choice.

“The guy slides the check to me at the end of the table. It’s me and my mother and Maverick Carter at the end of the table, and he says: “If you’re not going to talk to other companies, this is the your .’ And I’m looking at, I’m looking at, 10 million f—ing dollars.”

“I was a senior in high school; they gave me a check for $10 million and if I promised not to go see anyone else. I told them I needed a break. They came out, I needed a timeout . mom looked at me, and me and my mom live in an apartment, and you know the housing section in Akron, I don’t have s—, and my mom looked at me, she said, “Son, trust me u your instinct, if they offer you this, then who knows what other companies can offer you.”

“She’s like, ‘We don’t s— already, so it’s not like you know it’s going to change our lives right now. Yes, maybe in the future, but I want you to trust your gut and do what you think. it’s right Then, they came back. I said thank you, I would definitely like to continue our conversation, but I did not take those pitches from other companies that I could cry on the way home because I had to leave the 10 million”.

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Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, #23, dribbles during the second half against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. (Kevin Jairaj-Imagine Image / IMAGN)

“I was like I could buy the building me and my mom lived in with that god—- money.”

While James may have cried on the way home, the decision to turn down Reebok ended up being the right one.

In May 2003, James signed a seven-year, $87 million deal with Nike.

Fast forward to 2015, James signed a lifetime deal worth over $1 billion with Nike. He is Nike’s first lifetime athlete.

James said he grew up a Nike guy, but it wasn’t always Nike he signed with.

“It wasn’t always Nike. It was Nike when I was a kid, when I was a young man. Obviously, I’ve been in love with Michael Jordan my whole life. I’ve seen him, Penny Hardaway, Ken Griffey Jr., Bo Jackson, I’ve seen all these incredible sports figures, so when I was a child it was Nike Once I was in AAU and started playing basketball, Adidas took us, and it became “. James said.

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Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, #23, reacts while playing against the Houston Rockets in the second quarter at the Toyota Center. (Thomas Shea-Imagine Images / IMAGN)

“It was Adidas from the seventh, eighth grade to almost my junior, senior year, they sponsored us every year. We played in all the Adidas tournaments, big time tournaments in Vegas and all over the United States of America” .

Nike certainly got its return on investment with James, as he became one of the the best basketball players of all times.

James is currently in his 22nd season in the NBA, playing with the Lakers, and is a guarantee to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer once he retires.

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