20 years to the date of his NBA debut, LeBron James took some time to look back on how it all began. In a throwback video for the Lakers this week, King James even broke down the moments of his very first bucket, going second by second to describe how it all went down.
“Coming off a floppy action. Our coach at the time, Paul Silas, we used to run floppy and that’s like one of the most basic foundation plays. It’s two guards starting underneath, you got the two bigs on the block and you decide which side you want to come off of. So I was able to come off a pin down from our big. So I faded to the corner, took one bounce, and was able to just shoot over the top. I was nervous as hell, I’m not even going to hold y’all. It was my first game in the NBA, something I always dreamed about.”
20 years ago in Sacramento, @KingJames made his first career bucket.
Today, he returns on the anniversary of his NBA debut. pic.twitter.com/q0mzzpPF1V
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 29, 2023
LeBron swished the shot, and it was the perfect taste of what was to come for the next two decades. While the Cavaliers ended up losing the game, James finished with 25 points on the night and it was confirmation that he could more than hold his own against NBA-level competition.
LeBron Was A Star From The Beginning
Drafted first to the Cavaliers in 2003, James entered the NBA with enormous expectations and he embraced them right away. Taking on the nickname “The Chosen One” and choosing to don Michael Jordan’s infamous no. 23 for himself, LeBron was facing a lot of pressure to live up to the hype and he somehow over-delivered. After dropping 25 in his debut, LeBron followed it up with more impressive games that saw him end the season with averages of 20.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game as a 19-year-old teenager.
To this day, LeBron feels that he should have been an All-Star that season, which remains the only year of his career that he was not elected to the All-Star game. LeBron showed his true colors the following season when he averaged 27.2 points per game as he led the Cavs to the 9th-best record in the East.
Is LeBron The GOAT?
LeBron James is hardly the first player to dominate the NBA right away. Michael Jordan averaged almost 30 points per game in his first season and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was putting up double-doubles every single night. Even so, none of them lack the longevity that LeBron has. For 20 years and counting, LeBron has been firmly one of the best players in the game and he’s managed to avoid season-ending injuries so far. Even as a rookie, nobody could have imagined LeBron having this type of run and it has completely changed the dynamic of the GOAT conversation.
As a 19x All-Star, 19x All-NBA player, 4x MVP, and 4x champion, LeBron has done everything there is to do in the NBA and there are very few careers that can stack up against LeBron’s total body of work. Currently, at 38 years old, LeBron is still just as effective on the court as he was back in 2003 and has the Lakers in a position to compete for their second championship in the last four years.
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