Lebron James

LeBron Raymone James (/ləˈbrɒn/; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). James has won three NBA championships, four NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, three NBA Finals MVP Awards, two Olympic gold medals, an NBA scoring title, and the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He has also been selected to 13 NBA All-Star teams, 12 All-NBA teams, and six All-Defensive teams, and is the Cavaliers’ all-time leading scorer.

James played high school basketball at St. Vincent–St. Mary High School in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, where he was highly promoted in the national media as a future NBA superstar. After graduating, he was selected by his home team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, as the first overall pick of the 2003 NBA draft. James led Cleveland to the franchise’s first Finals appearance in 2007, but ultimately lost to the San Antonio Spurs. In 2010, he left the Cavaliers for the Miami Heat in a highly publicized ESPN special titled The Decision. James famously combined with NBA All-Stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to form what was known as the big three in Miami. He spent four seasons with the Heat, reaching the Finals all four years and winning back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. In 2013, he led Miami on a 27-game winning streak, the third longest in league history. After losing to the Spurs in the 2014 NBA Finals, James opted out of his contract and returned to the Cavaliers. In Cleveland, James partnered with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, and immediately advanced to two consecutive Finals against the Golden State Warriors, winning the championship in 2016 to end Cleveland’s fifty-two year professional sports title drought.

Off the court, James has accumulated considerable wealth and fame from numerous endorsement contracts. His public life has been the subject of much scrutiny, and he has been ranked as one of America’s most influential and popular athletes. He has been featured in books, documentaries, and television commercials. He also hosted the ESPY Awards, Saturday Night Live, and appeared in the 2015 film Trainwreck.

Early life

James was born on December 30, 1984 in Akron, Ohio to a 16-year-old mother, Gloria Marie James, who raised James on her own. Growing up, life was often a struggle for the family, as they moved from apartment to apartment in the seedier neighborhoods of Akron while Gloria struggled to find steady work. Realizing that he would be better off in a more stable family environment, Gloria allowed James to move in with the family of Frank Walker, a local youth football coach, who introduced James to basketball when he was nine years old.

As a youth, James played Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball for the Northeast Ohio Shooting Stars. The team enjoyed success on a local and national level, led by James and his friends Sian Cotton, Dru Joyce III, and Willie McGee. The players were inseparable and dubbed themselves the “Fab Four”, promising each other that they would attend high school together. In a move that stirred local controversy, they chose to attend St. Vincent–St. Mary High School, a predominately white private Catholic school.

Business interests

James is represented by agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports. His first agent was Aaron Goodwin, whom he left in 2005 for Leon Rose. Rose joined Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 2007, and he worked with fellow CAA agent Henry Thomas, who represented Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, to bring James to Miami in 2010. James left CAA for Paul in 2012. James, Paul, Maverick Carter, and Randy Mims—all childhood friends—formed agent and sports-marketing company LRMR after James left Goodwin. LRMR handles James’ marketing, including the marketing of The Decision, for which it was criticized.

Throughout his career, James has taken a unique approach to his playing contracts, usually opting to sign shorter term deals in order to maximize his earnings potential and flexibility. For example, in 2006, he and the Cavaliers negotiated a three-year, $60 million contract extension instead of the four year maximum as it allotted him the option of seeking a new contract worth more money as an unrestricted free agent following the 2010 season. This move ultimately allowed James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh to sign with the Heat together. During his second stint in Cleveland, he began opting out and re-signing on new contracts after each season in order to take advantage of higher salaries resulting from the NBA’s rising salary cap. In 2016, he signed with the Cavaliers on a three-year deal, becoming the highest-paid player in the league for the first time in his career.

Public image

James is considered by many, including his fellow players, to be the “face of the NBA”.His opinions have yielded significant influence on important league decisions; for example, in 2014 he asked commissioner Adam Silver to increase the duration of the All-Star break, and the request was granted the following season. On February 13, 2015, James was elected the first Vice President of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).

Throughout his career, James has been ranked by Forbes as one of the world’s most influential athletes. During his first tenure with the Cavaliers, he was adored by local fans, with Sherwin-Williams displaying a giant Nike-produced banner of James on its world headquarters. Despite their affection for James, Cleveland fans and critics were frequently annoyed when he attended Cleveland Indians games against the New York Yankees sporting a Yankees hat. Following his actions during the 2010 free agency period and, more specifically, The Decision, he was listed as one of the world’s most disliked athletes. By 2013, his image had mostly recovered and he was reported by ESPN as the most popular player in the NBA for the second time in his career. In 2014, he was named the most popular male athlete in America by the Harris Poll. He has led the league in jersey sales six times.

James is a philanthropist who is an active supporter of the Boys & Girls Club of America, Children’s Defense Fund, and ONEXONE. He also has his own charity foundation, the LeBron James Family Foundation, which is based in Akron. Since 2005, the foundation has held an annual bike-a-thon in Akron to raise money for various causes. In 2015, James announced a partnership with the University of Akron to provide scholarships for as many as 2,300 children beginning in 2021. In 2016, he donated $2.5 million to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture to support an exhibit about Muhammad Ali.

In March 2008, James became the first black man—and third man overall after Richard Gere and George Clooney—to appear on the cover of Vogue, posing with Gisele Bündchen. Some sports bloggers and columnists considered the cover offensive, describing the demeanor of James and his holding Bündchen as a reference to classic imagery of the movie monster King Kong, a dark savage capturing his light-skinned love interest.