Knicks To Woo LeBron James With C-List Celebrities

Chicago may be willing to hire the ultimate franchise-killer in order to lure LeBron James to their clutches, but they can't compete with the raw star power of New York's sort-of-recognizable personalities pleading on their behalf.

For insight into the Knicks' powers of persuasion, the New York Daily News spoke to current Phoenix Sun Grant Hill, who—believe it or not—was once a highly-sought out free agent his own self. Back in 2000, when Hill was ready to leave the Pistons, the Knicks presented Hill with a video presentations featuring famous courtside fans like Jerry Seinfeld and Spike Lee. But when push came to shove, they broke out the big guns, flying Big Apple heavyweights Chazz Palminteri, Star Jones and Peter Boyle all the way to Detroit to help make their pitch in person. How were they even available!

However, despite having the financial wherewithal to harness all those megawatts of celebrity juice, the Knicks failed in a much simpler task: digging deep enough into their target's background to discover if he was married.

Everything was going smoothly until the actor Leon appeared on a video screen to clue Hill into some of the other benefits of being a big star in the Big Apple.

"Looking back it was funny," Hill says. "He told me that if I came to New York I'll have loads of women. My wife just looked at me. She wasn't smiling."

Gee ... hard to believe this crack outfit hasn't won a title in almost 40 years.

When LeBron James hits the free agent market, expect New York Knicks to launch star-studded pursuit [NYDN, via Real King Fish]