It was a long day, July 1, 2010. LeBron James then 25, was interviewing teams for the next stage of his career. In addition to the New Jersey Nets, the New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Clippers and his then-current team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, were flying delegations into Hopkins International Airport in northeastern Ohio.
Mikhail Prokhorov’s Gulfstream V left Teterboro airport at 9:45 a.m. to meet James at the IMG building in downtown Cleveland. The aircraft landed at 10:36 and the Nets delegation was in place at 11:00, the first of the five clubs to sit with the King.