Lakers free agency pitch to Paul George leaked

The Los Angeles Lakers have put a lot of hope into this offseason. The team is hoping to lure multiple star free agents to take it out of its franchise-long rut of missing the playoffs.

Much of that hope is placed on the shoulders of Paul George. The star forward made it abundantly clear last summer that he wanted to play for his hometown Lakers but was eventually traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Now, there is reported optimism within the Thunder organization that George will re-sign in OKC.

The Lakers will still likely get a meeting with the star, however, and will do everything they can to convince George to come to LA. After all, George’s decision could impact ones made by LeBron James and other stars across the league.

With free agency fast approaching, Robin Lundberg of Sports Illustrated has obtained a leaked portion of the Lakers’ recruiting pitch in the mold of a voice over that will presumably be used with video.

The leak includes directions for those auditioning for the voice over to sound “less Morgan Freeman/Denzel Washington, and more Jamie Foxx.”

The actual pitch includes, in part, the following script:

When you were just a kid

In your room
Dreaming from Palmdale

We were dreaming too.

While you dreamt, we built – built for your arrival

And while we dreamt, you built too
Becoming one of the world’s greatest.

Life’s most powerful dream are the one we realize ourselves.

The ones that turn us into legends.
That kid from Palmdale always knew it
Now the world will, too

George is a native of Palmdale, California, where his family still resides.

Obviously, this will only be part of the pitch to George to return to LA and sign with the Lakers. The team will be hoping to draw his attention with sentimentalism before presumably discussing the on-court fit and their plans moving forward. The Lakers have been criticized before for focusing too much on Los Angeles and too little on the Lakers but with new management leading the free agency recruiting, there is some hope that the team will have revamped its ideologies.