Maverick Carter was giving it to LeBron James in a Wachovia Center hallway following a Cavaliers-76ers game in Philadelphia last season. Andre Iguodala took it to King James in the first half, knocked the crown off his head for one night, lighting him up for 21 points in the half.
Outside the locker room, Carter, who has known James since they were 5 years old, teased him mercilessly, wondering what happened, how Iguodala could abuse him so thoroughly. No matter: The Cavaliers won and Iguodala finished with 27 points.
“Well, I held him down in the second half,” James said sheepishly.
No teammate, coach, fellow NBA player or rapper/celebrity would dare talk to James like this, to rag on “The Chosen One” with such ease.
“Obviously, two guys very comfortable with each other,” said author Buzz Bissinger, who co-wrote James’ book, “Shooting Stars.”
Carter is James’ de facto agent/manager and CEO of LRMR, his marketing firm whose initials represent James and his so-called Four Horsemen — LeBron, Randy Mims, Maverick Carter and Rich Paul.
They are his Akron childhood buddies, and they make up a most untraditional business inner circle, though Paul, 30, has branched off with O.J. Mayo.
Critics wonder if Team LeBron is too unconventional — if they are savvy enough to be the major players whose voices will resonate in James’ ear about the merits of New York, Newark, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and Cleveland in the coming weeks.
James is a wannabe billionaire athlete whose chief business decision-maker, Carter, is a 28-year-old childhood friend from Akron who spent two years at two different colleges before dropping out.
Mims, 34, traveled with the Cavaliers as James’ personal assistant his first two years, flying on the team jet, before the organization hired him as “player liaison.” A more fitting title for Mims would be “LeBron Liaison.”
“He pretty much just sticks with LeBron,” a Cavaliers source said.
James also surrounds himself on occasion with the notorious William Wesley, worth a book of his own. Wesley, 43, is the confidant to the basketball stars — a lurking power-brokering agent-liaison whose back-channeling ways are legendary and earned him the moniker “Worldwide Wes.”
Nevertheless, Wesley goes formal Tuesday — officially becoming an agent for NBA and college coaches. As one James insider said, “He’s not really part of ‘the team.’ ”
There also is the growing influence of rapper Jay-Z, and Lynn Merritt, a powerful Nike executive who runs the James ad campaign.
“Everything runs by Lynn Merritt,” an agent said.
Then there is Manhattan publicist Keith Estabrook, a protective watchdog of James’ image, so intense he will argue effectively against the word “entourage” because he believes it is a negative depiction of James’ collection of Akron advisers.
When reporters call the Cavaliers public relations department on a James query, they are transferred swiftly to Estabrook in Manhattan.
James’ official agent, as listed with the NBA Players’ Association, is Leon Rose, a 49-year-old lawyer from Cherry Hill, N.J., whom most regard as a figurehead.
“He’s there because of his relationship with Wesley,” one NBA agent said.
In 2005, James fired his first agent, prominent Aaron Goodwin, who secured James’ historic $90 million Nike deal the day he was drafted in 2003.
According to a source, Carter informed Goodwin of his axing by e-mail. Sources also said Carter, who had an 18-month internship as a sneaker rep at Nike, got closer to James when James’ surrogate father, Edward Jackson, left the picture and went to prison for fraud.
In his best explanation of the Goodwin firing and formation of LRMR, James told Esquire two years ago, “For me to grow as a businessman, or for me to become a man, I decided I’ve got to start working with guys I can trust — my friends. Now I don’t have to be there for them to get into places, high-prestige places. Or to have a business meeting with somebody. LeBron doesn’t have to be there.”
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If James’ global marketing reach is less vast than Kobe Bryant’s and Dwyane Wade’s, well, this arrangement is more comfortable.
“It doesn’t surprise me, because the most important thing to LeBron is security and trust because he had none of that growing up,” said Bissinger, whose book chronicled James’ rough childhood journey and relationship with his high-school basketball teammates that led to three Ohio state championships and a national title. “He was born to a single mom who was 16, and she wasn’t around a lot and gave him away when he was 10 for a time. He obviously has created an island of trust and security. He feels Akron saved his life.”
Being surrounded by business associates who are childhood friends has given critics an easy target. LRMR was supposed to link other prominent athletes to the James brand, but that has been widely viewed as a failure.
“Just because you give a guy a scalpel, it doesn’t make them a surgeon,” one agent said of Carter. “Off the court [LeBron] doesn’t come near matching what he’s done on the court. Because of LeBron’s name, he can walk into anyplace. But can he get something done? That hasn’t been determined on a great basis. I’m not a stickler on formal education, but there should be someone in that clique with a semblance of a formal background.”
Most of James’ big endorsement deals were hammered out by Goodwin — the Nike extravaganza, the Coke deal, Upper Deck, Vitaminwater, and Bubblicious.
But the Carter-run LRMR has done some good. Carter got James and billionaire Warren Buffett to establish a friendship that could lead to great things.
LRMR landed endorsement deals with McDonald’s and State Farm, and Carter kept up a strong relationship with Nike. Forbes reported James made $40 million last year in salary and endorsements.
Nevertheless, the new Nike contract hatched in late March was not nearly as lucrative as the one Goodwin made — and it was telling that neither side released financial details.
Carter was a 6-foot-4 senior power forward and captain on the St. Vincent-St. Mary’s basketball team when James enrolled as a freshman at the mostly white, upper class, private Catholic school in Akron. Carter’s guidance to James was invaluable. He gave him advice on which teachers were OK with the idea they were there to play basketball and which teachers frowned on the notion.
After Carter graduated high school, he remained close with James. Carter transferred from Western Michigan to the University of Akron, sat out a season, then dropped out when he realized his buddy was on the verge of superstardom. He spent most of his time around the team during James’ senior season and Carter got an internship at Nike — with visions of one day managing his friend.
According to a Nike source, Carter worked directly under Merritt, a giant in the company who started out working with Bo Jackson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Scottie Pippen. Carter learned Nike’s philosophy A-to-Z.
“Maverick was exposed to the highest level,” a Nike source said.
Nike released a statement to The Post, praising Carter.
“We have had a very successful partnership with LeBron and his management team for more than seven years,” the company stated. “It’s built on mutual trust and respect. Working side by side, their insights have assisted us in creating innovative and inspirational ways of connecting LeBron to basketball fans around the globe.”
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If James’ marketing dominance has not been Jordanesque or Bryantesque, so be it. Expectations may be too high. To wit, James, unlike Jordan (six titles) and Bryant (four), has not won an NBA championship.
In the James/Bissinger book, there’s a telling passage referring to the closeness developed between him and his key high-school mates, known as the “Fab 5”:
“We became more and more suspicious of anybody trying to break into our circle. Who are you? Why are you? What do you want? Why do you want it?”
As one James insider told The Post, “Loyalty is part of his DNA.”
Nevertheless, there still is the belief the 25-year-old, at this stage, could use an outsider’s input — not an Akron insider’s — on July 1 for the biggest professional decision of his life.
“I think LeBron would benefit from an older, experienced associate, who will give him dispassionate advice,” Bissinger said. “Maybe there are too many yes men — afraid of being dumped. I think he’s led a very insulated life, too protected.”
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Wesley’s influence is either strong or on the periphery, depending upon whom you talk with. After the Celtics eliminated the Cavaliers from the playoffs in Boston 17 days ago, Wesley, Carter and Rose huddled with James alone in the visitor’s locker room for about 30 minutes, until midnight, before James finally marched toward his press conference. His advisers were all there as he talked about his “team executing a game plan this summer.”
A Knicks official said the club has tried to ascertain how much effect Wesley will have in July — but are unclear about how much influence he wields.
“Wes is the best insider in knowing people. Wes has an affinity for people and they just like him,” longtime adidas sneaker king Sonny Vaccaro said. “He can do anything, but what he has to do with this decision is unclear because of LeBron’s Akron friends.”
Steve Kauffman, a longtime player agent and now a prominent representative of coaches and general managers, unintentionally gave Wesley his start. Kauffman was the agent in the 1980s for the 76ers’ Kenny Payne, a cousin of Wesley’s. When the 76ers’ Rick Mahorn opened up a nightclub in Cherry Hill, N.J., called “Bump and Thump,” Kauffman got 17-year-old Wesley a job as doorman.
“That’s where he met Michael [Jordan] and a lot of players,” Kauffman said. “Back then, they flew commercial, stayed overnight and the club became a hangout after Sixers games. Wes took it from there. I accidently got him started.”
Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert seized on James’ alliances, strengthening a friendship with Wesley, who, like Gilbert, lives in suburban Detroit. Gilbert became close with Carter, inviting him onto his personal jet and the owner’s suite for games.
Gilbert hired Mims and Team LeBron still receives unprecedented perks. On the road, James’ inner circle and their friends reportedly get premium tickets — usually reserved for the opposing team’s general managers and owners — with higher priority than Cavaliers personnel.
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Jay-Z’s presence also can not be discounted, with Vaccaro saying the New York rapper and minority Nets owner could have more influence than Carter.
“It does make sense,” Bissinger said. “Jay-Z knows about New York, what it can bring, what it can’t bring, and what it means in endorsements. He looks up to Jay-Z. Maverick is more of a good friend, but I don’t know if he looks up to him.”
But Carter is omnipresent. Recently, he was over at James’ house, playing with James’ kids, LeBron Jr. and Bryce Maximus.
“Played with them as if they were his own,” Bissinger said. “It’s clear this bond goes way beyond a business-type relationship.”
The Knicks’ biggest fear is the Akron inner circle might feel New York is too big, too overwhelming.
One good sign is Mims, onstage with James at the BET Awards last September, donned an “I Love NY” T-shirt and Yankees hat. And “The Four Horsemen” were on the side of the stage when Jay-Z played Cleveland last year, going berserk to “Empire State of Mind.”
On the flip side, Carter told a confidant last season he felt visiting the Garden twice a year was exhilarating, but playing there 41 times a season might be too crazy.
“LeBron does listen to Maverick but does listen to others,” Bissinger said. “But LeBron will ultimately listen to himself.”
marc.berman@nypost.com