Setting the record straight
Posted July 19th, 2006 by Brian Windhorst
Las Vegas — My reporting was wrong. Some of my sources turned out to be inaccurate. For the last two years I have reported that LeBron James’ endorsement contracts have location bonuses except for his Nike contract. I got this information from numerous conversations over the course of three years.
I have recently learned from different sources that the Nike contract does have a location bonus. It is not a huge one, one that doubles his deal or would make the difference between signing a max contract or signing for the mid-level exception. I wanted to wait until after LeBron signed his contract to discuss it on in this forum because the last thing I want is more speculation about LeBron’s grand plans and all his desires to go to New York or whatever.
LeBron has signed his second contract with the Cavs. He is committed to the Cavs today as he was four years ago when he was drafted. I would advise fans to prepare yourselves for constant speculation on his future for the next 10-12 years, it is the nature of the beast. Every three or four years he’s going to come up for a contract and at least a year before he does, there will be stories and commentators who suggest he will be going elsewhere. In fact, it won’t just be contract time, if the Cavs have a down few months, some will predict he’ll demand to be traded. Prepare yourselves to live with as a cost of having a superstar in Middle America.
In the next few years, Nike will probably give James a new and richer contract. It will probably include location bonuses, too. It is business. If I were a fan, I’d be more concerned about basketball and how the Cavs get better.
So I have set the record straight and I’m going to move on permanently, I’m sorry that I led you astray in the past. I hope it does not happen again in the future, but I will continue working hard to give you the best Cavs/LeBron coverage I can here and in the paper.
Starting this morning, I will be covering Team USA’s preparations for the FIBA World Championships gearing up for my trip to Japan next month. We have some exciting and innovative plans for coverage in the Beacon Journal and on Ohio.com. Hope you’ll enjoy it.
July 19th, 2006 at 10:19 am
Interesting - if we get a few more good players it will all be a mute point anyway. Thanks for doing such a great job with your reporting both here and in the paper Brian.
July 19th, 2006 at 10:40 am
Brian,
Thanks for being a man and admitting you were wrong - and bringing us the correct information. I wasn’t that worried before and am even less now…that kicker, in terms of the deal he’ll be up for next time around, is nothing. I seriously doubt Nike’s going to be paying out the nose in kickers in his next deal in order to steer him one way or the other.
So many things have to fall into place for LeBron to leave, people. Let’s all relax and enjoy having a player like this on our team for once.
July 19th, 2006 at 11:14 am
Not many members of the media today can man up and not only admit they were wrong, but apologize to readers. Thanks for setting the record straight. You live and you learn…ABJ still beats the shit out of the PD’s coverage, anyways.
July 19th, 2006 at 11:23 am
The bottom line is that LeBron is going to be able to dictate where he wants to play after his extension runs out, so we better enjoy watching him play now because who knows what will happen in 2011. Hope he brings the Cavs a championship and then signs on for another 6-7 years.
July 19th, 2006 at 11:45 am
Scientific nailed it. Wasn’t worried then, not worried now.
July 20th, 2006 at 6:45 am
“.ABJ still beats the shit out of the PD’s coverage, anyways.”
Amen
July 20th, 2006 at 10:14 am
In other words, Brian, it’s about time you finally realize that agents will, and do lie to you. You expressly wrote that James’ former agent had told you differently. You bit on it hook, line and sinker, without even the remotest semblance of doubt. Whoops!
Bottom line is agents (and their clients) will say anything to the media if it will facilitate their own self-serving interests. Jeez, you’ve been in the biz long enough now, seems to me you now have the experience to use this hard lesson for future reference in all facets of your reporting. Be more of a skeptic, for Pete’s sakes. Too many things you seem to accept at face value.
And now, with that Nike contract due to be re-upped in a few years, and “coincidentally” James has the legal right to concurrently escape, common sense should tell you that Nike’s next contract proposal will have some outrageous incentives on the table to lure James to Manhattan or Brooklyn. His current Nike contract will pale in comparison.
July 20th, 2006 at 10:52 am
I don’t usually post to these kinds of things, but I am sick and tired of hearing all of this “LeBron is going to New York” stuff. Last time I checked, free agents aren’t exactly flocking to the Knicks or the Nets, and while the Nets are a decent team, I don’t think either they or the Knicks are that close to winning a championship anyways.
So LeBron made one statement about how he would love to play for Jay-Z. I’m sure he has good friends all over the country that he would “love to play for”. That certainly doesn’t mean that he’s actually going to do it! What about all of his friends and family that he has in NE Ohio? Would he really choose Jay-Z over all of them, even if the money is the same?
The guy has four more years of playing in Cleveland. Four more years! I’ll worry about the next contract when that time comes around.
July 20th, 2006 at 11:11 am
Who do you trust? A journalist with a source who tells lies or the paranoid, 1-dimensional ravings of Alan Tucker looking into his crystal ball? Neither! At least BW has a good track record, can admit a mistake, and respond to being challenged. (KJ is still waiting…)
Who is your source, Alan, for what LeBron James will do? Did you watch a lot of “Murder, She Wrote”? LeBron will make his own decision in 4 years without consulting your predictable, obsessive, and boring rants. Do you have anything else to contribute?
July 20th, 2006 at 11:42 am
“If I were a fan, I’d be more concerned about basketball and how the Cavs get better.”
I certainly agree but, gee whiz, how are they going to get better? LeBron will improve but who else on the team can be counted on, really? Is Ferry going to do anything?
I’ll bet Dwayne Wade’s pretty happy that Riley decided to shake up a pretty good team last summer.
July 20th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Alan, do you know what STFU means? Learn it, live it, love it. You don’t know anything about how Brian does his job. Please stop being so vile, he has never done anything to you.
July 20th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
Everyone seems a little too eager to jump on your “admission” of being “wrong”. I really don’t care either way - I’m more fascinated by these guys who live on these boards 24/7 and devour any little nugget about LBJ and the Cavs like a starved animal looking for food. My advice to BW: never apologize, never explain. It just gives the kooks another opportunity to pounce.
July 20th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
If there is no big shakeup, this will be the first off-season since his arrival that LBJ won’t experience a big player or coach/front-office shakeup. 1 more year to learn team defense and 1 more year to start learning a team offense. I hope Ferry can get rid of one or two of our lame guards, or pull off a Gooden sign-and-trade.
Riley had the advantage of having 2 cornerstone players to build around when he went on his trading frenzy, and he also was able to get Mourning and Payton to settle for virtualy no $ to pitch in to get their rings. And if Dallas hadn’t choked during Game 3…but that’s a different story.
July 20th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
Alan Tucker still acts like superstars are clamoring to go to New York and that everybody’s endorsement contract has some outrageous kicker that gives them a gazillion bazillion dollars if they go to the Knicks. If that was the case, AI and KG would have beat him there by now.
Somebody else on here called Tucker one-dimensional. “Asinine” is more like it.
July 20th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
People, he is actually saying that it is worse than originally reported!
Before, he thought it was all the contracts but Nike’s. Now he knows IT IS ALL the contracts.
It is a sarcastic apology!
July 20th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
I’m not sure I’d say it’s a sarcastic apology, or that an apology is even necessary, but I’m a little unclear on a couple details.
Are BW’s new sources more honest/accurate than his old ones when they say the bonus isn’t a huge one? BW says the bonus wouldn’t make up the difference between a mid-level exception and a Cavs max offer–would it make up the difference between a Cavs max offer and another team’s max offer, assuming that team has $15 million or so under the salary cap?
Also, what does SFTU mean?
July 20th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
Yeah, a $5-mil bonus each year (plus all of his other location bonuses) would approach making up the difference, but the Cavs could also offer Lebron an extra year on the next contract itself, as I understand it.
If he wants to stay in Cleveland next time around, he’ll design his endorsement contracts with that in mind. If he wants to play elsewhere, he’ll make sure he can jump and design his next endorsement contracts accordingly. I think it will come down to whether or not he wins in Cleveland or thinks he can win somewhere else (which will also have an effect on the endorsement dollars).
s = shut, u = up, t = the, …
July 20th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
Larry, what’s the difference what the terms of the current contract Nike contract are? It’s the next one that fans gotta be worried about. Face it, now that we finally got a beat reporter’s admission of this major, major, major reporting blunder, Nike OBVIOUSLY will be offering a ridiculously upgraded fortune as their Manhattan or Brooklyn incentive. It will make King Tut look like trailer trash.
July 20th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
ya know, i actually came on here to say that due to this latest news, it is a least a tad more feasible that LBJ could sign elsewhere but ya know what? screw talking about that because tucker is so wrong yet a-freakin-gain!. why, you might ask? firstly by calling windy’s mistake a “major, major major rerporting blunder.” no, he got played wrong by a source. and it was a source that gave him good info before. it happens. that’s how the reporting biz is. a “major, major, major reporting blunder” is what the NYT did on WMD’s and things like that. windy did not make a “blunder!” a blunder denotes a certain level of stupidity. and brian ain’t stupid. don’t believe me, just look at the fact how well-respectedc he is by the on-line nba community and espn. speaks for itself…
and you, tucker, lecturing a PROFESSIONAL SPORTS REPORTER soooo condescendingly about not trusting agents! jesus! like you have ever even *talked* to an agent!!
as for the nike contract, well, we’ll see. not to crack on LBJ but jordan still is the king on selling sneakers and i have read at least 2 different articles that claimed that neither LBJ or any other current player is selling shoes! his nike contract might not turn out to be so lucrative as thought. oh, and if you don’t think herr commissar stern will have somehing to say about nike or any other company holding such sway and influence over a player to determine where he plays? if you do, you’re as dumb as tucker! why did stern get the “bird rule” on the books? because he didn’t want superstars going to different teams every 4 years!! what do people not get about this?? stern WANTS LBJ to stay in cleveland just like he wants garnett to stay in minn. etc,. how do i know? well, unlike tucker, i don’t read peoples minds; i look to see what they actually say and do! crazy, ain’t it?
look, in light of this recent mea culpa by brian, i will admit that it seems that the chances that LBJ will leave for the coasts has increased. but then i think about the actual facts and i feel fine. esp. if LBJ wins a title in the next couple years. name me the last guy (superstar in his prime) who left a team for another after winning a title. ummm, i think that number would be zero…
kudos to all of you on this board who continue to show your intelligence and sharp wits. this blog is better for it, tucker notwithstanding…
July 20th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
re: “name me the last guy (superstar in his prime) who left a team for another after winning a title”
hate to nitpick, but i hope you remember when shaq was a laker? does ben wallace count as a superstar in his prime? he does in my book.
with that said… I otherwise agree… I do think lebron will hang as long as the team continues to show real, substantial improvement, since like, that’s what he’s said repeatededly and all.
July 21st, 2006 at 7:23 am
hi mike,
sorry to nitpick back but shaq was traded. and let’s be frank, with the kobe/shaq/phil dynamic, that laker situation was unique.
as for wallace, well, i disagree. as i said in an earlier post, i think a superstar is, when it comes to the discussion of contracts, a guy who gets a max offer or will be offered one when he becomes unrestricted. wallace was traded and even cut during his “prime” so i don’t think he’s really in the discussion.
July 21st, 2006 at 10:38 am
If LBJ was smart, he would go to Nike when the next contract is up and say” If you want me to endorse your product, you will give me the same money no matter where I play.”
Nike would be foolish to let LBJ go. The last thing they want is him going to Addidas, Reebok or another competitor. Granted this is easier said then done, but LBJ holds all the cards and can virtually do whatever he wants.
July 21st, 2006 at 3:09 pm
kj, yeah, you’re totally right man… sorry about that… I really need one of those devices that prevents convicted drunken drivers from starting their car if they can’t blow under the legal limit attached to my comp.
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