Boston — Here at the National Governors Association summer summit, I spoke with Gov. David Paterson (D., N.Y.) about this week’s most pressing issue: LeBron James.

“There are three things to consider when you are a superstar basketball player,” Paterson says. “One is money, the other is winning, and the third is legacy. Well, he compromised on the money, which was noble, and he certainly is going to a place where he is expected to win. But if you think about it, what made Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and also Michael Jordan great was that they went to franchises and made them win as opposed to aligning themselves with a dream team and being expected to win. So [James] has no place to go but down, or south. Strategically, if he goes to the Knicks, or even the Nets, he is now making a team viable that was not viable. And then he’s in markets where he can build on that. But now, with three of the five top players in the league playing on the same team, it looks almost unfair. The public will root against Miami. It’ll turn me into a Laker fan, which I didn’t even think was possible. A lot of people will be like that. It hurts your brand.”

Playing the role of Tim Russert for a minute, I press Paterson: Did he do enough to bring LeBron to the Big Apple? Jay-Z, I note, put his image on a billboard to woo. What about the guv? “I spoke with Jay-Z,” Paterson laughs. “I said that if LeBron came to the Nets, that would set up a competition with the Knicks, which is reminiscent of the greatest rivalry that ever existed: Brooklyn versus Manhattan. LeBron would get to play the role of Jackie Robinson. See, he doesn’t get that, he doesn’t get the brand part of this. He’s just thinking about winning. Remember, though, many people win, but a lot of people don’t remember their names. That’s the difference between heroes and legends: Heroes win and legends live forever. By signing with Miami, he misses that point. If he would have called me, I would have told him.”