MLB insider reveals Roki Sasaki was asked to choose between Kevin Durant & Michael Jordan to deter Dodgers signing

"Be Like Mike" was the reported motto of major league teams when courting NPB phenom Roki Sasaki. The 23-year-old has selected the Los Angeles Dodgers as his gateway to MLB stardom but not without some heavy persuasion from a host of other teams.

In a revelation by ESPN's Jeff Passan, the insider disclosed that some MLB teams found a unique tactic in pursuing the young fireballer. Owing to Sasaki's interest in basketball, many teams asked him if he wanted to be Kevin Durant or Michael Jordan.

For those unaffiliated to basketball, the comparison was given to Roki Sasaki to find out if he was interested in joining a dynasty, or building one by himself.

Kevin Durant left the Oklahoma City Thunder during the summer of 2016 and joined the modern-day dynasty of the Golden State Warriors that featured reigning MVP Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

The Warriors have clinched the NBA title the previous season and clobbered Durant's Thunder in the 2016 Western Conference Finals. During his three years with the Warriors, Durant won two championships along with two Finals MVP Awards to boot.

Meanwhile, teams put emphasis on the pitch to Roki Sasaki that he could be a Michael Jordan. Needless to say, "Air Jordan" is the most famous basketball player on the planet. After years of disappointment against Larry Bird's Boston Celtics and "The Bad Boys" Detroit Pistons, Jordan hard-carried the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s to six NBA titles.

Eventually, Sasaki settled for the Dodgers, with his main reasoning being the front office stability, as he said in his first press conference for the,.

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Roki Sasaki joins Japanese pitching contingent in MLB

With Roki Sasaki's addition to the Dodgers, there are now 11 MLB pitchers from The Land of the Rising Sun — all of whom happen to be alumni of Japan's high-caliber NPB.

Yu Darvish is the most tenured of the contingent, having made his debut in 2012. He's joined by Tigers pitcher Kenta Maeda, NL MVP Shohei Ohtani, Yusei Kikuchi, Shintaro Fujinami, Kodai Senga, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Yuki Matsui, Shota Imanaga, Tomoyuki Sugano, Sasaki and the recently acquired Shinnosuke Ogasawara.