The New York Knicks weren't able to sign LeBron James in 2010 -- but it wasn't for a lack of trying.
Before the future NBA champion made his way to South Beach, he held a series of meetings with teams to decide where he would continue his career.
Interested teams at the time, in addition to the Knicks and Heat, included the incumbent Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers and New Jersey Nets.
The Knicks' infamous pitch included a 10-minute video featuring high-profile New York celebrities selling James on the idea of coming to the Big Apple. While the existence of the video was reported on by ESPN in 2010 and The Athletic in 2021, the actual footage had never surfaced... until now.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
On his self-titled show "Pablo Torre Finds Out," the award-winning journalist revealed the tape to fellow social media stars Rob Perez and Jason Concepcion.
It starts off with fictional character Tony Soprano, portrayed by James Gandolfini, and his wife Carmelo Soprano, portrayed by Edie Falco, who moved to New York in the witness protection program after the events of "The Sopranos" ended.
Their next task is to find a place for Tony's "friend LeBron to live." Tony describes him as a modern guy who respects tradition. Carmelo then finds a Zillow listing for Madison Square Garden, which they describe as a "classy," "expensive" and "really loud" place for James.
NBA
Take a look at this skit:
Next, future President Donald Trump makes an appearance with a brief quote on camera.
"The real winners of the world want to be here," Trump said. "They want to come to New York, whether it's Wall Street, whether it's fashion, no matter what it is, this is the place the real winners want to be."
The rest of the video featured athletes Walt "Clyde" Frazier, Willis Reed, Earl Monroe, Mark Messier and Reggie Jackson, comedian Chris Rock, filmmaker and Knicks superfan Spike Lee, former mayors Rudy Guiliani and Mike Bloomberg and actors Alec Baldwin and Harvey Weinstein, among others.
You can watch the full video with a breakdown from Torre, Perez and Concepcion here:
