Maybe the most incredible aspect of LeBron James’ basketball playing career is how he’s managed to live up to or exceed the expectations that were placed on him when he was some high school kid in Northeast Ohio. For example, here is a video package ESPN aired before his first nationally televised game at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.
The broadcast open to @KingJames' first nationally televised game in 2002 👀 pic.twitter.com/7jFAmzhkti
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 12, 2018
In the time since then, James has gone on to win just about everything a basketball player can win, all while holding the title of the best basketball player in the world for an extended period of time. Now, instead of being viewed as someone who has to live up to being the next big thing, he is compared to the players in that above video for what he’s accomplished in his career.
Still, as James is climbing up various career leaderboards, he’s at a point where he’s doing some personal reflection. For example, James and the Lakers play the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night, and the next name he’s slated to pass on the NBA’s all-time scoring list is none other than the team’s owner, Michael Jordan. This led to James recalling the first time he ever met the Hall of Fame guard back in 2001 to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
“It was godly,” James said. “I’ve said that over and over before, but it was like meeting God for the first time. That’s what I felt like as a 16-year-old kid when I met MJ.”
This also led to James trying to put Jordan’s impact on the game in context, mentioning that he made basketball go from something that was big in the United States to something much bigger.
“MJ made the game global,” James said. “He made the game global. He made people all over the world want to watch the game of basketball because of his marketability, because of the way he played the game of basketball, because of who he was. He kind of transcended that era.”
James and Jordan are going to be linked forever, as we’ve reached a point where James is considered a contender for Jordan’s title of the best player ever. Some will argue that James has already gotten there, while others will argue he can never take that title from His Airness. But at the very least, we know that one half of this duo compared meeting the other half of said duo to meeting a deity.
