Knicks used secret ‘Sopranos’ episode to woo LeBron
James Dolan tried to pull out all the stops to get LeBron James to come to the New York Knicks over a decade ago.
The embattled business tycoon even tried to use some bada bing!
But not even an exclusive episode of “The Sopranos” could lure the NBA’s brightest star to call Madison Square Garden his new home.
The show’s star Edie Falco has revealed that there is a neverbefore-seen sequel of the smash HBO drama series that was used to sweeten the pot for the future Miami Heat superstar to join the Big Apple’s beloved basketball team.
Falco recently appeared on the fourth episode of the “Shattered: Hope, Heartbreak and the New York Knicks” podcast — hosted by hip-hop legend Chuck D — to reveal the existence of the short film, which she shot with late co-star James Gandolfini in 2010.
James was a free agent at the time after his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers ran out.
As all of the top NBA teams vied to seize the 6-foot-9 superstar, Dolan’s organization devised a scheme to make a short film with “The Sopranos” stars to help bring James to New York City.
“We got those requests all the
time back then and Gandolfini, he did nothing,” Falco revealed. “And somehow, he agreed to this thing, which I was shocked by.”
“I thought it was a prank when someone said he’s going to do it ... and then ... there he was, there we were dressed as our characters,” she added about the scene shot in Gandolfini’s Tribeca
apartment. “He must have been a bigger basketball fan than I realized.”
According to series producer Rocco Caruso, the premise of the scene was that the Sopranos were friends of James and they were going to find him a place to live, which ultimately was Madison Square Garden.
Three years before, fans of “The Sopranos” were left holding the bag with the series’ infamous everything-goes-black ending.
For the James spinoff skit, Gandolfini wore a thick, full beard — which he rationalized could be explained by saying his mob boss character had entered the witness protection program.
“So we sort of rewrote the script around that,” Caruso said.
“The Sopranos” was used as the beginning of a full video, which featured a who’s who of New York glitterati — including Robert De Niro, Harvey Weinstein, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump, Alec Baldwin, Reggie Jackson — pitching why the city was a special place.
Obviously, the ambitious and audacious visual presentation did not work because James decided to take his talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat and become arguably the greatest basketball player of his generation.
“I couldn’t believe that it didn’t work,” Falco reflected. “Not so much because of ‘The Sopranos.’ I just thought, it’s New York. How does anyone say no to New York, for God’s sake? But he did!”
The short was never released to the public and Russo reportedly was unable to track it down.
The winner of 21 Emmy Awards, “The Sopranos” ended its run on June 10, 2007, after six seasons and 86 episodes.
Later this year, Warner Bros. will release the prequel movie “The Many Saints of Newark” in theaters and on HBO Max. Written by series creator David Chase, the period drama stars Gandolfini’s son Michael Gandolfini as a younger Tony Soprano.