Even if you’ve never played or watched basketball in your life, you’re sure to have heard of LeBron James. The American professional basketball player has often been considered as the top of his game anywhere in the world, and with numerous awards, medals, and accolades under his belt, it’s no wonder that he has achieved such iconic status. The Los Angeles Lakers player has, so far, had an extremely illustrious career. Having won four Most Valuable Player Awards and three Finals MVP Awards from the NBA and two gold medals at the Olympics, it comes as no surprise that James is such a famous name in the world of sports.
His professional career has taken a number of interesting turns too. James has been featured in TV commercials, documentaries, and books. He has also appeared in a movie and has hosted Saturday Night Live and the ESPY Awards. He is also famous for a number of top brand endorsements. Most recently, he has even signed up to a sponsorship deal with Nike and Jian Zi-Hao, (a name which will be familiar to anyone who enjoys betting on esports teams as a player for the Royal Never Give Up League of Legends Team) to work on designing a piece of clothing. However, it is primarily for his legendary basketball techniques that James is famous, and this is how it should be.
Le Bron James’ Early Career
Having played for his school team at Akron Ohio’s St Vincent-St Mary High School, James was touted heavily as one of the future superstars of the NBA long before he embarked on his professional career. In 2003, he joined the Cleveland Cavaliers, but it wasn’t long before he established himself as a premier player in the league. 2010 saw him signing with Miami Heat as a free agent – a decision which remains among the most controversial in American sporting history. 2012 saw James winning his first NBA championship, but it wasn’t until 2018 that he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers – the team with which he is most commonly associated.
Le Bron James And The Lakers
It was June 2018 when James decided to opt out of his Cleveland Cavaliers contract and instead be a free agent. Klutch Sports, his management company, announced on 1st July that year that James would be signing up to play with the Los Angeles Lakers – something which the player freely admitted was something he wanted to do solely to achieve his own ambitions. His career with the Lakers began well, with a score of 44 points in a win of 126-117 over the Portland Trail Blazers.
His National Team Career
In 2004, James made his US national team debut in Athens, although this was not a positive experience for the talented player. Having spent most of the games sitting on the bench, he returned home saying he believed he hadn’t been given sufficient opportunities to play.
His experience four years later in 2008 was a much better one, however, with Team USA going entirely unbeaten and winning the first gold medal for the nation since 2000. James himself turned in 3 assists, 6 rebounds and 14 points against Spain during the final game of the competition.
He returned to his national team again for the London 2012 Olympics. This time he was heading the team as Kobe Bryant at the age of almost 34 stepped back. Again, James proved to be instrumental in the success of Team USA, having recorded the very first triple-double in American Olympic basketball history against the Australian team. The US Olympic team won their second gold medal in a row, once more defeating the Spanish team during the final game. In this game, James contributed no less than 19 points, and this led to him being named as America’s top scorer of all time in men’s basketball history.
LeBron’s Influence
During his entire basketball career to date, LeBron James has ranked as one of the most influential athletes in the world according to Forbes magazine. He has also been listed among the top 100 influential people worldwide by Time Magazine. He also holds the honor of being the first black man to appear on Vogue’s front cover in 2008, and only the third man to ever appear on the magazine.
James has also moved in showbusiness, with a production company called SpringHill Entertainment which he owns with Maverick Carter, his business partner. This company has produced a documentary about James himself as well as The Wall, Becoming, Survivor’s Remorse, and The LeBrons animated web series.
He is also well-known for a number of endorsement contracts which he has signed over the years with big name brands like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s State Farm, Nike, Beats by Dre and Dunkin’ Brands. Thanks to his many and diverse professional paths, he is not only the world’s highest paid basketball player, but he is also one of the top paid athletes anywhere in the world. With such huge sums at his disposal, it’s no wonder that he has expressed his ambition to one day own his own NBA team.
Who knows what the future will hold for LeBron James? However, whether or not the sporting icon will ever have an NBA team of his own, he will certainly go down in history as one of the top basketball players of all time.
