Giannis Antetokounmpo does not appear to have gone all-out to recruit LeBron James to join him on the Miami Heat.
Antetokounmpo “never really went out of his way” to pitch James on joining him in Miami, according to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints. While it is not clear to what extent Antetokounmpo made an effort to contact James, it was certainly not as aggressive as some of the other recruiting efforts players made.
Siegel does note that there is no way of knowing whether Antetokounmpo’s lack of recruiting had any impact whatsoever on James’ decision to join the Philadelphia 76ers instead.
While we will probably never know for sure, we do know that Tyrese Maxey led an aggressive effort to convince James to play in Philadelphia. Draymond Green also tried to recruit James on behalf of the Golden State Warriors. Nobody from the Cleveland Cavaliers seemingly tried to recruit him, but it’s a fair assumption that his ties to the region made it so that was not really necessary.
Considering how sequestered James’ process was, Antetokounmpo may have thought a lighter touch was the way to go to get James to sign in Miami. Even so, it is a bit surprising that Giannis did not try to work him harder given how much personal relationships appear to have played a role in James’ choice.
