MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 13: Christian Petracca of the Demons marks the ball during a Melbourne Demons AFL training session at Gosch's Paddock on November 13, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn has spilt the beans on what really happened when Christian Petracca and teammates met NBA megastar LeBron James.

Petracca played junior basketball and is good friends with rising Aussie NBA star Ben Simmons, who he watched play for the Philadelphia 76ers alongside Demons' teammates Dom Tyson and James Harmes.

But Gawn said that the once-in-a-lifetime trip was not quite the same for Tyson and Harmes as it was for Petracca, who was treated by his superstar mate.

“Christian promised Dom and James, he said ‘I know Ben Simmons, we’ll get courtside tickets, we’ll hang out with the boys’ so they all got pretty excited,” Gawn told SEN.

“So they all got to the game and there were (courtside) tickets for Christian, and the other two were in the nosebleed section. Apparently they couldn’t get any further back!”

That's not where the story ends however, with the trio invited to New York to hit the town in style, to varying degrees of luxury.

“And then after the game Ben Simmons came up to them and said ‘we’re going to go to New York to go out’," Gawn said.

“Christian got in the limousine with them. James and Dom were in an Uber behind them.

“The Uber cost $150 and unfortunately they got there about 10 or 20 minutes after the boys and they had to wait in line out the front before they got let in!

“So they didn’t exactly get the high-rolling life that Christian did.”

Gawn finished his humorous tell-all reveal by confirming that Petracca did in fact meet Cleveland Cavaliers icon LeBron James at an exclusive venue.

“Apparently Christian was in a booth that some of the Philadelphia boys weren’t even allowed in,” Gawn said.

The ruckman also noted Petracca's strong pre-season to date, wiping significant time off his personal best 2km trials in a bid to play in the midfield more regularly in 2018.