“19 year old LeBron James broke his cheekbone and then dropped 26 points”: How the Cavaliers superstar suffered a devastating blow from Dikembe Mutombo and continued his dominance

LeBron James dropped 26 points the game right after having his cheekbone broken by Dikembe Mutombo on his 20th birthday. 

LeBron James burst onto the scene in 2003 as perhaps one of the most impressive rookies the league has ever seen. In his freshman season in the NBA, James averaged 20.9 points, 5.9 assists, and 5.5 rebounds a night; and although his percentages weren’t all too great, he was clearly showing flashes of what he grew to become. 

Ever since the get-go, something that cannot be taken away from LeBron James is his toughness. To be 18 years old and battle it out each and every night against players twice your age with decades more NBA experience shows just how mentally and physically tough James was to start off his career.

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When it comes to the latter part of that, a young James showed off just how tough he was, physically, a day before his 20th birthday. 

LeBron James after getting elbowed in the face and breaking his cheekbone. 

December 29th, 2005 saw the Cleveland Cavaliers face off against the Houston Rockets. LeBron James played merely 17 minutes a game here due to the fact that Dikembe Mutombo elbowed the 19 year old in the face, breaking his cheekbone in the process. 

James left the game early but much to everybody’s surprise, returned the very next game. January 3rd saw the Cavs play the Charlotte Bobcats and LeBron James was seen playing with a transparent mask on. He would go on to drop 26 points on 11-19 shooting from the field, all while dishing out 6 assists and snagging 2 steals.

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Safe to say that even as a teenager, the eventual 4x NBA champ had it in him to go out and perform on any given night, granted it was an injury that he could play through.