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How Sports Illustrated got the LeBron scoop

Robert Mayer / USA TODAY

In an interview with Emma Bazilian of AdWeek, Sports Illustrated managing editor Chris Stone reveals how the sports magazine managed to break its biggest story of the summer: LeBron James is going back to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Published as a first person essay from James, the story was put together by SI senior writer Lee Jenkins, who had floated the idea to the superstar's camp at some point after the NBA Finals. Last Saturday, James' representatives indicated they would be interested in offering them the scoop, and putting together an original story for the decision. 

On Thursday, Jenkins met with James in Las Vegas, and finalized the article. According to Stone:

It was a very low-maintenance process for a very sensitive, high-impact story. All along, our objective was to invest in the explanation behind the story, and we were willing to sacrifice the possibility of breaking the story because we thought that LeBron’s words and his reasons were much more valuable than being first, so the fact that we happened to get both, we feel like we hit the lottery.

They managed to keep news of the deal under wraps by involving as few people as possible in the process. Even Stone didn't know which team James had signed with until seeing the finalized version of the story on Friday morning.

The scoop will assuredly result in new website traffic records for Sports Illustrated, but it also acts as a nice feather in the outlet's cap. Stone says, "It’s always going to benefit any media entity to have a story of this magnitude. We’re proud."

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