LeBron James thought the Los Angeles Lakers would sign Kawhi Leonard this past offseason "because I'm a positive guy", but they lost out to the Los Angeles Clippers.

"You ask me was I getting excited about it? I don't get too excited until things actually happen, but I thought we had a chance," James said. "That's all you can ask for. We put ourselves in position to have a chance to get [Leonard]. When he went to the Clippers, I thought that was just as cool. It was great for our league, and he had to do what was best for him. And we all respect that."

James was asked what ultimately swayed Leonard to sign with the Clippers.

"Man, how the hell can I answer that? I don't f---ing know," James said with an incredulous grin. "I don't know. I don't know. Ask Kawhi."

Antony Davis also discussed his role trying to recruit Leonard.

"It was fun just to go through it, for me, with a player like Kawhi, trying to recruit him to come here. It was fun," Davis said. "We had one conversation, and I think he came out with a statement, or his uncle or something ... somebody said he don't really like all the recruitment and all that stuff, so I felt like I overstepped my boundaries.

"But it was a fun process. I would do it all over."