Tyrese Haliburton tried to recruit LeBron James to the Indiana Pacers before the two appeared together at Fanatics Fest in New York City, and James answered with a string of laughing emojis.
Haliburton revealed the exchange on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show on Monday. He said he texted James ahead of their live taping of the Mind The Game podcast at the sports convention, telling him he should come play in Indiana.
“And he responded with six laughing cry faces,” Haliburton said. He added that he initially thought it was two emojis but checked the text again and counted six. “Yeah, it hurt,” he said.
At the Fanatics Fest appearance itself, an audience member asked James to pick a team. He declined to name one, saying only that it was going to be fun wherever he landed.
James also fielded a free-agency question from an 11-year-old, calling it “a hell of a question.” He described his next move as a big decision for himself and his family, and said he was thinking about where to spend the last year or two of his NBA career.
James mentioned Cleveland, Miami, Philadelphia and Golden State as teams he has been connected with but did not indicate which he preferred.
