“LeBron James Might Have Been…”: Having Made Michael Jordan a ‘Billionaire,’ Sonny Vaccaro Made Bold Prediction About 16 y/o King James

In 2001, roughly two years before his NBA debut, LeBron James made an appearance in the now-defunct ABCD camp. Hosted by Sonny Vaccaro, who signed Michael Jordan for Nike, ABCD Camp had seen some of the greatest modern talents till 2001. So, when LeBron walked into the camp, he was about to share the same space Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett had once occupied.

It was a big deal for LeBron’s career. He was suddenly put in the national spotlight. Coaches and Scouts were astonished by LeBron’s brilliance. However, they weren’t the only ones taking a note.

Even Sonny Vaccaro knew then and there that there was something special about LeBron James. In fact, the former Nike executive who had played a huge role in creating Air Jordan, believed 16-year-old Bron was better than the top 18-year-old prospects in the country.

Sonny Vaccaro believed LeBron James could have been a lottery pick in 2001

Brian Windhorst was closely following LeBron’s high school career in the early 2000s. Naturally, he was at the ABCD camp in 2001 and witnessed James take over.

In his book LeBron James Inc.: The Making of a Billion-Dollar Athlete, Windhorst wrote in detail about the impact the 16-year-old made on scouts, coaches, and Vaccaro.

Brian claimed that many believed James would skip college and head straight to the NBA. But Vaccaro took his prediction one step further. The man who had given both Jordan and Kobe Bryant their shoe deals believed that if Bron had declared for the NBA draft in 2001, he would still have been a lottery pick.

Windhorst: “Sonny Vaccaro, the amateur basketball legend who famously recruited Michael Jordan to Nike and Kobe Bryant to Adidasduring his long and prolific career, told me LeBron might have been a lottery pick in the high school-laden draft that’d just taken place because he was already better than all the eighteen-year-olds who had been picked.”

Vaccaro supported LeBron after the ABCD camp

Once the camp was over, Vaccaro did not forget LeBron or his brilliance. Instead, he went into recruitment mode. He helped James and his high school team not only procure jerseys but gave LBJ the entire Adidas kit. In fact, LeBron began wearing a new pair of Adidas kicks every game all because of Vaccaro and his trust in James.

Windhorst: “Naturally Vaccaro was going to be complimentary. He was in full-out recruit mode by that point, having arranged for LeBron’s high school team to get a contract with Adidas that would outfit him in gear from head to toe. LeBron’s freshman year, he couldn’t wear his preferred number 23 because the school only had even-numbered jerseys, and new uniforms were purchased once every few years. By the time he was a senior, LeBron had worn more than a dozen varieties of uniform designs, and he wore a new pair of Adidas shoes nearly every game.”