LeBron James Biography
December 30, 1984 • Akron, Ohio
Basketball player
James, LeBron.
AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.
Before LeBron James had completed his sophomore year of high school, basketball scouts were
discussing his chances of playing for the National Basketball Association (NBA). Before playing his first
regulation game for the NBA, James had signed deals with Nike and other corporations for multimillion-
dollar product endorsements. Before he completed his rookie season in the NBA, sportswriters were
discussing his chances of joining the most elite players in history in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Comparisons to NBA superstar Michael Jordan (1963–) became common, and some sportswriters began
calling James "The Chosen One," indicating the hope that the rookie phenomenon would revive interest
in the NBA that had declined since Jordan's retirement. LeBron James, by age eighteen, knew a thing or
two about dealing with pressure. James's ability to cope with that pressure has proven to be a critical
factor in his success. Sportswriters and his coaches agreed that James has shown uncommon maturity
for a player his age, handling his newfound fame and the extraordinary expectations of others with
grace.
During 2003, prior to his graduation from high school, James declared himself eligible for the NBA draft,
the annual process by which professional basketball teams select new players to join them for the
upcoming season. The Cleveland Cavaliers, one of the worst teams in the NBA, had the privilege of the
number-one draft pick. The Cavs chose James, with the obvious expectation that this eighteen-year-old
would lead the team to greatness. While James's first season with the Cavs did not exactly propel them
to a championship, he did help his team win twice the number of games as they had the year before,
and at the end of the 2003–04 season, James was named Rookie of the Year.
A team player
Born in Akron, Ohio, in 1984, James is the only child of Gloria James, who gave birth to him when she
was just sixteen years old. Gloria struggled to provide for James during his childhood. When James was
about five years old, he and his mother moved seven times in a year. For a couple of years during
elementary school, James lived with a foster family. Gloria's longtime boyfriend, Eddie Jackson, has
acted as a father figure for James, but he was not always around during James's youth, spending several
years in prison for selling drugs and, later, for fraud. Regardless of any troubles they may have had,
however, James and his mother have a close and supportive relationship. He told Jack McCallum
of Sports Illustrated: "My mother is my everything. Always has been. Always will be."
"I don't want to be a cocky rookie coming in trying to lead right off the bat.... If there's one message I
want to get to my teammates it's that I'll be there for them, do whatever they think I need to do."
Taller and more athletic than most other kids his age, James got hooked on basketball early in
childhood. Dru Joyce II, who coached James for many of his early years, recalled in an article for the
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service that, while playing in a summer league during elementary school,
James was an aggressive offensive player who "really liked to shoot the ball—a lot." Joyce remembered
advice he gave James at the time: "I started telling LeBron about passing the ball, how great players
make their teammates better. I talked about getting his shots in the flow of the game." Joyce assumed
that he would have to repeat this advice many times, reminding the eleven-year-old to be a team player,
but he was mistaken. James absorbed every word his coach said and immediately changed his playing
style. "That was the last time I ever had to talk about LeBron shooting too much," Joyce recollected.
Read more: https://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/James-LeBron.html#ixzz7eNBvclSW
