LeBron Raymon James (LeBron Raymone James), born on 30 December 1984, is an American basketball player who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA. James is married to Savannah Brinson (33). Together they are the proud parents of two sons and a daughter: Bronny James (15), Bryce Maximus James (12) and Zhuri James (5 years old).
LeBron’s childhood
LeBron was born in Akron, Ohio. James’s mother, Gloria, was a single sixteen-year-old. His mother struggled with raising him during his early years. When James was five years old, they moved seven times within a single year. His real father was never in the picture, but an old friend of Gloria’s, a youth football coach named Frank Walker, took on the role of father figure. Despite the difficulties mother and son faced, they consider their bond close and supportive.
As a child, James played Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball for the Northeast Ohio Shooting Stars. He decided to go to St. Vincent St. Mary High School with three friends and teammates. It was a predominantly white private school, and it caused quite a stir because they didn’t go to the local high school. Still, they had a lot of success there and even won the national championship. James was followed by many scouts from a young age. He was even compared to star player Michael Jordan. At the age of eighteen, James signed a contract with Nike worth 90 million dollars.
Early career: Cleveland Cavaliers
Thanks to his great success and all the media attention, James ended up on the cover of “Sports Illustrated,” where the magazine billed him as “The Chosen One.” In 2003 he was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the first overall pick in the NBA draft; James was barely 18 years old at the time. In Cleveland he immediately became team captain and won the Rookie of the Year Award, averaging 21 points, 6 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game. With this achievement, James was the youngest to receive this title in the club’s history. In 2004 James and the national team played at the Olympic Games in Athens, where they won bronze. Four years later, LeBron became Olympic champion. The first NBA All-Star Game James played in was in 2005, after he was selected as one of the Eastern Conference starters. There he finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
After averaging 31.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, James was selected to the All-NBA First Team for the first time in his career. In 2007, led by James, Cleveland played in its first NBA Finals, which they lost to the San Antonio Spurs. In 2008 they didn’t win the championship either. James led the team to a franchise record of 66 wins during the 2008-2009 season. This earned him the title of Most Valuable Player (MVP), with averages of 30.0 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game. The following season he won the title again, averaging 30 points.
Miami Heat
In the summer of 2010, James’s contract with Cleveland expired. He had the chance to extend his contract but decided to move to the Miami Heat. This caused quite a stir: many considered James a traitor, and T-shirts of him were even burned.
The Miami Heat reached the NBA Finals in his first year with the team, but lost the championship. In the 2011-2012 season, James averaged 27.1 points per game, which earned him his third MVP award. In 2012, The Heat won their second NBA title, and the first for James, by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games. James won his fourth MVP award in 2013.
Return to the Cleveland Cavaliers
In 2014, James decided to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He announced his decision online. In it he said: “When I left Cleveland, I had a mission: I wanted to become a champion. I achieved that in Miami, but they already knew that feeling there. It’s been so long since our city won anything, and I want to change that.” The Miami Heat felt James’s departure: in the four years James played there, they reached the NBA Finals four times and won the title twice. James had reached his goal: in 2016 the star player won the NBA title in a deciding game against the Golden State Warriors. He gave the Cleveland Cavaliers their first major success in fifty years.
Los Angeles Lakers
In 2018, James announced that he would not exercise his player option for a new one-year contract with the Cavaliers, worth 35.6 million dollars. This made the American a free agent. From 1 July, interested clubs were allowed to make him an offer, and James chose the Lakers, where he signed a 4-year contract worth 154 million dollars. However, the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics were also mentioned as possible clubs. Lakers icons Kobe Bryant and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played for the club for years, congratulated James on his transfer. “Welcome to the family,” writes Bryant, who retired in 2016.
Nike Lebron
In 2015, James signed a lifetime sponsorship deal with Nike. For Nike, this is the biggest sponsorship deal with an individual athlete in the company’s history. Lebron has released many Nike basketball shoes of his own. The cushioning has been developed further with each of the 17 models. Lebron always comes back to Air. “I’ve tried other kinds of cushioning too,” he says, “but Air just suits me best.”
