Roland Lazenby outlines the team that surrounds LeBron and will influence his decisions this summer:

It’s an impressive group that tightly encircles James these days, mostly people who knew LeBron before he became royalty. Randy Mims handles logistics and travel. Richard Paul deals with image and publicity issues.

But the central figure is Maverick Carter, his older high school teammate, who returned from playing college basketball at Western Michigan to take up a main position in LeBron’s life. They have called themselves the “Four Horsemen” and quite some time ago formed LRMR Marketing to handle James’ many opportunities.

Carter’s known as one of the smartest players to ever emerge from the Akron hoops scene. When LeBron ended his relationship with agent Aaron Goodwin with a text message notice in 2005 and turned things over to Carter, there were immediate suggestions that Carter, just 23 at the time, was in over his head, that he would fall on his face.

That hasn’t happened, though. Carter has prospered in the role.

Lazenby also touches on William Wesley’s influence. Apparently, he moved into the same apartment complex that LeBron lived in as a rookie. Wesley was the one who introduced LeBron to Michael Jordan when he was still in high school.

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