It’s not unusual to see superstars trying to convince other stars to join them on their teams nowadays. The modern NBA is built like that, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the Los Angeles Lakers,Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in the Los Angeles Clippers, or Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the Brooklyn Nets.
Contrary to what most people think, that trend has been around for over a decade now. In fact, multiple teams were trying to get their stars to make a pitch to LeBron James back in 2010 when he was ready to hit free agency and leave the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Now, 11 years later, former Chicago Bulls superstar Derrick Rose admitted that even he tried to get LeBron James to join his team, even though he wasn’t comfortable with that kind of dynamic.
Derrick Rose Admits He Tried To Recruit LeBron James
“I did the LeBron recruiting for Chicago. It was a day after practice, and Bron and Chris Bosh and all of them, we got word — everyone heard it around the league — they were together on one of those banana boat things and were about to team up somewhere,” Rose said, as quoted by FadeawayWorld.
Rose Says He Felt Betrayed By The Chicago Bulls
The former MVP thensaid that he felt backstabbed by the team’s front office, as Gar Forman made him do a video to recruit James, just to later leak to the press that ‘he wasn’t big on recruiting players’:
“Gar Forman, our GM, came to me with the people from the office about putting a video together for Chris Bosh, D-Wade, and Bron. I didn’t fight it. I did the video. I’m sure Bron and those guys saw it. Then this story came out that I wasn’t big on recruiting. Should I have to say that I recruited?” he said.
“That’s where I’m coming from. It’s a lose-lose. I’m not comfortable saying I’m out there recruiting because I respect my teammates. Should players have to do that? It doesn’t seem right. When I saw the story was Derrick doesn’t want to recruit. I felt like, as my partner in this, the Bulls should have come out and said I’d done it. Like, ‘We got it. Chill. He cool.’ They didn’t,” Rose concluded.
Derrick Rose would go on to become the league’s youngest MVP evernext season and the only player that could take LeBron James down in the Eastern Conference. Sadly, injuries got the best of him and the Bulls are still waiting to make it to the NBA Finals again.
