Capping off a summer of brilliant PR moves, LeBron James has hired Rabbi Yishayahu Yosef Pinto, a Hebrew-only-speaking, 37-year-old rabbi-to-the-minor-stars who also may be a sketchy businessman who may also have been somewhat involved in the suspicious death of a wealthy Bobover Hasid real-estate maven. Apparently James paid Pinto six figures for “spiritual guidance” during a merchandising meeting. This is sort of like the whole Amar’e Stoudemire thing, except without the charm and good intentions. Nice Yankees shirt, by the way.
King James Goes Old Testament, LeBron Hires Rabbi [TMZ]
Related: Charismatic Moroccan Kabbalish Draws Crowds and Questions [Forward]
Earlier: Celebrity Rabbi Maybe Related to Death
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.