Lebron James is the greatest basketball player to ever live. He has won four MVP’s, two championships, and numerous other awards throughout his career. And he is only 27 years old! His first season was in 2003. As you will find out, Lebron leads quite the interesting life.
Chapter 1: The Early Years
LeBron James was born on December 30th, 1984 to a 16 year old single mother. Her name is Gloria Marie James. His father has never been in the picture so he took his step father’s last name Lebron . He was raised by his mother and grandparents until their divorce when he was 8 years old. He lived with his mother and soon she had a new boyfriend with a son named Eddie. They moved in together and Lebron finally had a brother! This was the first time he ever had someone to play sports with, as both of them loved basketball from an early age. He realized that being tall at such a young age gave him an advantage over most players. He could shoot over them! His favorite player was Michael Jordan and he would watch his games all the time with his step father, who also became a father figure to him.
Chapter 2: Move to Ohio
Lebron won a basketball scholarship at St Vincent-St Mary High School in Akron, Ohio . This is where he would meet lifelong friend Dru Joyce . He was very popular in High School, but he never liked the attention. Already being 6 foot 3 inches at age 15 made girls swoon over him and guys want to hang out with him just because of how good he was on the court. While his mom worked several jobs, St Vincent-St Mary’s assigned a tutor to him so he could still practice and improve his grades. He would stay after school until 8 every day just working on his game.
Chapter 3: The Decision
After High School, Lebron entered the 2003 NBA Draft . He was chosen by the Cleveland Cavaliers as the number 1 pick! He made an announcement that he would be going straight to the NBA, unlike most athletes who go to college for a year or two. As soon as he got off stage, he called his mother and told her he signed a $90 million dollar contract! He was ready to take the NBA world by storm.
Chapter 4: Cleveland Cavaliers!
As you can imagine, Lebron was not very popular in Cleveland. He was seen as a young arrogant kid who had too much money too soon. Before the first season, he moved out of his hotel suite because it wasn’t good enough. He wanted his family to be with him so he got them an apartment . Then at 19 years old, he became the youngest player in NBA history to score 2000 points. The following year, he won rookie of the year and broke another record by being the youngest player to score 1000 points in a season. During his second season, Lebron made a list of all the best 50 players in the League and ranked them from 1-50 . His top 3 were Kobe Bryant , Kevin Garnett , and Shaquille O’Neal . As a Cavalier, Lebron has been named to the NBA All-Star team four times. He was also voted as an All-NBA First Team member three times with the Cavaliers. During his time at Cleveland, he struggled to lead his team deep into the playoffs. They made it to the Eastern Conference Finals his second year but lost to the Boston Celtics .
Chapter 5: The Decision
After six seasons, Lebron decided he was tired of losing. He said in an interview that winning a championship ring is all that matters in pro sports and anything else “is not that important.” So He joined Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat . He said, “I’m taking my talents to South Beach.”