LeBron James was spared a potentially humiliating moment at Radio City Music Hall last night.
While a host of Redeem Team members were interviewed on the Radio City stage during yesterday’s Team USA scrimmage, LeCon became the noticeable exception. Nike did not want its World Basketball Festival to turn into a boo-fest.
“We wanted to stay away from that,” a Nike official said.
Knicks targets Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul were interviewed during stoppages, as was new Knick Amar’e Stoudemire and Dwyane Wade. James, in sunglasses, sat glued to the bench. Anthony, Paul, Stoudemire, Wade and James are not on Team USA’s World Championships squad, but showed up for support.
Stoudemire, wearing a tan fedora, sat on the bench next to Anthony, who could become Stoudemire’s teammate next season.
Anthony also confirmed yesterday that he plans to play in the 2012 Olympics in London and help the U.S. defend the gold it won in Beijing in 2008.
When James left Radio City, he huddled with his entourage to decide on a nightspot and ignored a question on why he turned down the Knicks.
In the Knicks’ press release on their schedule released Tuesday, the club listed highlight games at the Garden, including vs. Boston, Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago and Phoenix, but conspicuously excluded any mention of their two nationally televised games vs. Miami (Dec. 17 and Jan. 28).
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The Knicks announced signing of second-round pick Andy Rautins, who’s playing for Team Canada. . . . James, Wade and Anthony also attended last night’s Players’ Association contract talks with NBA owners.