If big-name celebrities can help sell you products, why can’t they help sell LeBron James on playing for New York?
Precisely, says New York Knicks president Donnie Walsh.
Walsh wants as many New Yorkers as possible to help convince James to play for the Knicks when NBA free agency opens July 1.
"If there's Yankees that want to help us, we would involve them," Walsh told the New York Post on Sunday.
Unfortunately for Walsh, James’ famous friends aren’t so keen on the idea.
Yankee captain Derek Jeter told ESPN.com that it "wouldn’t make sense" for him to be involved.
"If I were going to another baseball team, how would a basketball player help?" Jeter said. "I don't play basketball. I have nothing to do with that."
James’ friend and hip-hop mogul Jay-Z agreed with Jeter.
"That's his decision," the part owner of the New Jersey Nets said in a Rolling Stone interview. "We're friends — we've still gotta hang out! I don't want to convince somebody to do something, then have to see him and say, 'Uh, yeah, we're 4-30 … sorry.'"
Unaware of Walsh's comments at the time, Jeter said he doubted the Knicks would ask him to get involved with James’ free agency.
"I don't see how it would work," he said. "It is completely different."
