Gray confirmed that he pitched the concept of buying an hour of network time to James's marketing agent, Maverick Carter, and Ari Emanuel, chief executive of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, during Game 2 of the recent NBA Finals.

"I brought them the idea, and they were loyal and [showed] a lot of honor when they found a network they wanted to put it on," Gray said. "They said: 'We're not kicking him off. That's not how we operate.' "

ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said in an interview that when James's representatives approached the network, Gray "was part of the package." The sports channel was "comfortable" with James handpicking his interviewer, Soltys said, because Gray had worked for ESPN, as well as NBC, and "we knew he was equipped to do interviews." ...

Gray said he essentially agreed to work for free, minus expenses, because James was donating the advertising proceeds -- $2.5 million, as it turned out -- to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. ESPN's Soltys said James's organization sold all the national advertising to such sponsors as McDonald's, Microsoft, Nike and the University of Phoenix.

On WJFK-FM Thursday, Post sportswriter Mike Wise asked Gray whether he had lined up the University of Phoenix as an advertiser. Gray said he had no relationship with the school other than that "they sponsor some of the programs I happen to be on. . . . I'm not involved in any of those decisions."