Credit: Lou Capozzola-USA TODAY Sports
LeBron James has been a dominant force in the NBA for nearly two decades at this point, having won 4 NBA titles, 4 Finals MVPs, and 4 MVP awards in a storied career that began all the way back in 2003. The King entered the NBA that year, straight out of high school, and his time with the Fighting Irish is the stuff of legends in itself.
In his 4 years with the team, James proved to be an absolute terror on the court as he led them to three division titles while putting up ridiculous numbers in the process. His last season saw him average 31.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 3.4 steals per game as he was once again named Ohio Mr. Basketball. Such was his dominance, that many began calling him the greatest high school basketball player of all time and an NBA fan put out some rare footage of LeBron demolishing the competition during his high school career.
LeBron just seemed a cut above the competition as he made an impact on all facets of the game, something he carried on into the NBA. He was so great in high school, that he even tried to enter the NBA Draft in 2002 but his petition was unsuccessful. James had to wait another year to get to the NBA and once he got there, he showed just why there was no reason for him to waste any time in college.
On his NBA debut, LeBron dropped 25 points against the Sacramento Kings, which set a record for the most points by a prep-to-pro player in their first regular season game and he never looked back from then on. James still fondly remembers his time in high school and not long back, reacted to a SportsCenter clip of his time with the Fighting Irish as he looked back on the weight of the world being on his shoulders. No athlete has ever come into the NBA with as much pressure as LeBron did as an 18-year-old and in some ways, he has even surpassed those lofty expectations people had of him.
