• LeBron James was hated by his teammates during his rookie season with the Cleveland Cavaliers
• Paul Silas believes LeBron James’ teammates were jealous of him because of their egos
• The King quickly won over coach Paul Silas with his brilliant basketball IQ and proved everyone wrong
LeBron James was drafted using the No. 1 overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2003 NBA Draft. James entered the league straight out of high school.
Being the most hyped-up prospect in NBA history, it was evident that LeBron had difficulties winning over his teammates. Former Cavaliers coach Paul Silas once explained why LeBron James’ teammates were jealous of him.
“I told him something once,” Silas recalled, per ESPN. “And he committed it to memory. His basketball mind was incredible.”
Silas continued, “Their egos wouldn’t allow it. I kept telling them, ‘You have a chance to help one of the game’s future stars,’ but they wouldn’t embrace him. If it bothered LeBron, he never let on. We won 35 games that year because of him. He’s had some outstanding seasons since then, but that first one may have been the most impressive because of how he excelled in spite of the jealousy on his own team.”
During James’ rookie season, the Cavs had a 35-47 record. Although they missed the playoffs, it was a major improvement from finishing with a 17-65 record in the previous season.
James averaged a solid 20.9 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 5.9 APG in his first season in the NBA. Following that, he never looked back and kept on improving each season.
Cleveland Cavaliers Players Hated LeBron James When He Was Drafted To The Team
Let’s be honest, LeBron James wasn’t the first player in NBA history to enter the league straight out of high school. However, he was unarguably the most hyped prospect.
Cleveland Cavaliers players at the time were skeptical of the King. Carlos Boozer and Darius Miles were the most doubtful of James.
Carlos Boozer: “We have better players than him at his position already on our team though. His potential is, probably, the sky is the limit for him though.”
Darius Miles: “I don’t think you can really just bring a high school player in and really just think your team gonna really turn around like that. If he come, he can just hop on our bandwagon and hopefully, we can do something big.”
James did change the Cavaliers coming straight of high school. However, it seems as if only Paul Silas believed in the young superstar. It’s no surprise that James was heartbroken when Silas passed away in 2022. The two shared a great bond.
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