So LeBron James is never going to play for a Big 12 basketball team like his son Bryce at Arizona. But a former player for a Big 12 program helped get the King to Philadelphia.
James announced on Friday that he was signing a two-year deal with the 76ers, one worth $8 million, which is the veteran minimum. He’s ring-chasing again, this time with a team that has one of the most formidable starting lineups on paper, including former Kansas star Joel Embiid.
But the Sixers still needed a general manager to get the deal done. Enter Mike Gansey. And this where things get wild.
Mike Gansey, King-Maker?
Gansey is from Olmsted Falls, Ohio. He played basketball, like James. In fact, he’s only two years older than James. Their prep careers overlapped in the Cleveland area when James played for St. Vincent–St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. Don’t believe it. Well, here’s a photo of the pair in their prep uniforms.
Of course, their careers went different directions. James went directly to the NBA from high school. Gansey started college at St. Bonaventure, followed by transferring to West Virginia, where he played two seasons from 2003-06. He sat out a year after transferring. At the time WVU was in the Big East.
He became a fan favorite but was also a great player. He helped the Mountaineers to the Elite Eight in 2005 and to the Sweet 16 in 2006. He was a finalist for the Wooden Award and the Naismith Award for player of the year.
The NBA didn’t want him. He went undrafted. He played professional ball overseas and in the NBA’s D-League (now the G League) until he called it quits in 2011.
He still had basketball in his blood, so he went into management. He started working for the Canton Charge in 2012 in the front office and eventually became the general manager, earning 2017 G League executive of the year honors. James was playing in Cleveland at the time and Gansey was promoted to Cavaliers assistant general manager in James’ last season as a player in Cleveland in 2017-18.
He became the Cavaliers’ GM in 2022 and was hired as Philadelphia’s president of baseball operations in May. He went right to work. His biggest move before James was executing a trade to acquire NBA champion Jaylen Brown from the team’s rival, the Boston Celtics.
There aren’t many people that could get James to play on the cheap at this stage in his career. Turns out, all it took was a Mountaineer with Ohio roots who goes way back with the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
