When LeBron James came into the league in 2003, he was the next big thing, expected to become the “Next Michael Jordan.”
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It’s 2002, a 6’9 forward in Akron, Cleveland, who is arguably the most famous prodigy of all time and is labelled “The Chosen One” to achieve the unachievable and surpass Michael Jordan as the GOAT in basketball.
The chills that pressure must give while going to bed every night to anyone starting their career is unimaginable. But to a 17-year-old kid, that’s just unfair.
Nobody cared, we generally don’t, for most of the prodigies who give in under pressure. But so didn’t that kid. He never cared about what expectations people had from him. He had the simplest of goals to become an NBA Star and give his mother all the happiness in the world that his father couldn’t.
“No pressure for me.”
18 years ago today, @JayBilas interviews 17-year-old @KingJames after his 1st national TV game in high school.
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) December 12, 2020
Twenty years later, that kid is not only one of the greatest to play the game of basketball. The 4x NBA champ has also become the only billionaire athlete who is still active in his sport. That’s beyond what any prodigy has ever achieved.
But still, LeBron James is one of the most hated athletes in the world. Be it because Jordan has always been the basketball god for most, or he kept himself away from anything besides sports, James gets the hate much more than a Boxer or MMA artist willingly wants. And NBA legend Grant Hill believes it’s just unfair.
“No one’s endured as much hate as LeBron James. Jordan didn’t have to experience that”: Grant Hill
In his recent appearance on All The Smoke, Hill was asked who he would like to play with from the current generation. And the Hall of Famer didn’t think twice about choosing the 18x All-Star.
“I mean, right now, obviously, he’s getting up there, and things are a bit crazy in LA, but I would have liked to play with LeBron. I don’t know LeBron like that, but we’ve been good. I’m not in his circle like that, but I think everybody that plays with him he’s like the glue guy. The guys that play with him love him like he’s inclusive, you know. He thinks the game at a high level,”
Grant, a 2x NCAA champ, who was also tagged the “Next Jordan” before LeBron, knows exactly how much the 37-year-old already had to endure and live up to that pressure. And then getting this much hate at the end disheartens the 49-year-old for his fellow NBA legend.
“I also think no one’s endured as much hate as LeBron. The hype and what he’s done, you think about Jordan didn’t have to experience that, like we played in the 90s. It was talk radio, maybe the newspapers, but you didn’t hear the noise. You didn’t hear the slander, and now for someone like him, the face of the franchise who’s been so good, but he’s got to endure so much.”
