This afternoon Laurie Perez spoke with the managing editor of Sports Illustrated, Chris Stone, about the magazine’s huge scoop on where Lebron James plans to play next year.
Stone is a Mystic native, and his father was t
Stone gives the credit to Lee Jenkins, who first approached the editors at SI about wanting to tell a fresh story on Lebron’s upcoming decision about which team to play for.
Jenkins flew to Las Vegas on Wednesday, July 9, and on Thursday he spent time speaking with the basketball star.
Lebron revealed to Jenkins that he was going to return home to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 2014-2015 season.
Jenkins wanted the story to be told differently then when Lebron moved to the Miami Heat four years ago.
Jenkins decided, with Lebron’s representatives, to tell the story from Lebron’s own words, and what came from that was Lebron’s story as told by Jenkins. It was all Lebron’s words, just edited by Jenkins to flow well.
The editors–including Stone–were notified that Jenkins officially had the scoop Thusday night, and he turned in the article at 10:30 on Friday morning. Just under two hours later it was up on SI.com.
An accompanying article, told in the third person by Jenkins, will be published in Sports Illustrated’s print magazine when it’s released on Wednesday.
Stone said his reaction to getting one of the biggest sports stories of the year was excitement, “like a 7-year-old before Christmas morning.”
Lebron’s camp was comfortable with SI reporting the story because they were aware of how well the story of Jason Collins revealing he is gay was done. They believed Lebron’s story would also be told in a meaningful, powerful way.
Stone credits Jenkins getting the story because he builds a strong bond of trust with his sources.
