Brian Windhorst talks ‘what if’ career moments around LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard reporting

There are a lot of “what if” moments in the illustrious reporting career of ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst.

But there are two that stand out among others. On the latest episode of The Old Man and the Three with JJ Redick and Tommy Alter podcast, Windhorst revealed that he was tipped off that LeBron James would be signing with the Miami Heat rather than returning to his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers.

Windhorst recently told Brandon Contes on the Awful Announcing podcast that he knew that James was going to the Heat about 12 hours before “The Decision.”

But according to what Windhorst now told Alter and Redick, it could’ve been much sooner.

“I got tipped off that LeBron was gonna go to Miami and I rejected it,” Windhorst told Redick and Alter. “Because I said, ‘No, no, they can’t make the cap space [work], and those guys [James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh] aren’t taking less.’ I pushed it right out. I could have really followed up on it 10 days out. But I didn’t respect that yes, they could make the cap space [work] and yes, those guys would consider taking less.”

“I made an assumption. And that’s like my thing, don’t make assumptions again. I still do because it’s human nature, but no, why did I make an assumption? Why did I not follow that up? It was an arrogant thing for me to do and God, did that bother me so much. And look, the thing about it is, the level that it would’ve taken for me to get a confirmation that LeBron was going to go to Miami was probably too high. Because unless I heard it from LeBron himself, it was such a crazy story, how could I ever have said it or reported it? But the fact that I dismissed it because I thought I knew more than I did really bothered me. So, now when I hear stuff that sounds outlandish, I don’t close the door on it as fast. I will go down and investigate it a little bit.”

Windhorst also shone a light on his reporting process during his conversation with Awful Announcing, saying that he only reports one percent of what he hears. While that may be true, Windhorst admitted to Redick and Alter that he is now not as dismissive as he once was when it comes to hearing things that may be a bit out there. He told them the other “what if” instance for him is when Kawhi Leonard went to Los Angeles following winning a championship in his lone season with the Toronto Raptors.

“I got told by somebody I trust that, ‘Hey, Kawhi is trying to go to LA with Paul George.’ Paul George plays for the [Oklahoma City] Thunder; he’s got three years left on his contract; what are we talking about here?” Windhorst said. “And I dismissed it. Shouldn’t have done it. Shouldn’t have done it.”

Windhorst made a similar mistake nine years apart. While he only reports one percent of what he hears, as mentioned above, it would be hard to imagine that Windhorst would make that same mistake for a third time. And that’s exactly what he’s making sure he doesn’t do with the Damian Lillard trade talks.

[The Old Man and the Three]