While it had long been anticipated that LeBron James would go on an extended tour of potential free agent destinations, Chris Broussard of ESPN.com is reporting that James will conduct all interviews with other NBA clubs in Northeastern Ohio.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the New Jersey Nets and New York Knicks will be two of the first six teams to meet with James in Akron.
The Nets are hoping the global might of Jay-Z – an idol and mentor to James – and Prokhorov can appeal to James’ desire to be a billionaire athlete with an international platform and profile.
Nets general manager Rod Thorn and coach Avery Johnson will also make the trip, but Thorn has decided to leave his job and retire in July.
Broussard writes that James’s desire to meet in his Ohio hometown threw off some of the Knicks’s plans.
The New York Knicks, who according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer were planning a spectacular, celebrity-laden dinner cooked by a world-renowned chef for James on July 1, quickly canceled it and began plotting an emergency Plan B, according to two sources.