“At that point I was surviving” – Joakim Noah reveals almost joining LeBron James on Lakers during his exile from NBA
Joakim Noah and LeBron James had quite the rivalry during Noah's time with the Chicago Bulls. For many years in the Eastern Conference, Noah and the Bulls battled it out with James in the regular season and the playoffs.
Despite that, there was always a healthy level of respect that saw Noah even famously try to recruit James and Dwyane Wade to Chicago.
Ultimately, LeBron James took his talents to South Beach and joined the Miami Heat, causing the rivalry with Noah and the Bulls to reach new heights. Unfortunately for Chicago, an injury to Derrick Rose saw the Bulls come up short in a highly anticipated playoff matchup.
Although Rose and the Bulls swept the Heat in the regular season series, injuries held the team back in the playoffs. With plenty of built-up animosity over the years, it was clear there was no love lost between the two teams.
Despite that, Joakim Noah recently revealed on an episode of "Pardon My Take" that he was close to joining James on the LA Lakers during his NBA hiatus.
As Barstool Sports' Big Cat said, the Lakers signed Dwight Howard instead. Noah played five regular-season games and two playoff games in 2019-20 with the LA Clippers instead. Howard helped the Lakers win the NBA title in the bubble. Noah signed with the Clippers one game before the season was suspended because of COVID-19.
"Yeah, it didn't happen," Noah said. "It's probably a good thing. Maybe it's just better it didn't happen, and overall I'm just, at that point, I was surviving, so I was just trying to get a gig even before I talked to you guys. I was like, 'It's March or April, and I don't have a team.'
"I hadn't played in a couple of years, so when that's taken away from you, I would have went anywhere."
How Joakim Noah tried to recruit LeBron James to the Chicago Bulls
When LeBron James was making his free-agency decision, the Chicago Bulls were reportedly on his radar. When he, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were all looking to join forces, the Bulls were one of the teams they allegedly could have joined.
With a standout young point guard in Derrick Rose and a dominant center in Joakim Noah, a Big Five would have fit together naturally. Wade, a shooting guard; James, a small forward; and Bosh, a power forward, complemented Rose and Noah so well that it's easy to imagine how dominant the group could have been.
Allegedly, Derrick Rose wanted no part of the recruiting process and wasn't a part of pitching the Big Three on Chicago – Joakim Noah was.
On "The Old Man & The Three," Noah said:
“I tried to recruit all of them. It didn't matter. Whatever it took to get the Bulls better, I was doing. Derrick (Rose) wasn't doing none of that s**t. I was doing all of that. People don't know that, but, yes, I did try to recruit LeBron. Yes, I did try to recruit D-Wade.”
What could have been.