Victor Wembanyama is one of the most hyped prospects in sports history and the last time the NBA really saw hype like this for a player was when LeBron James was entering the league.
While there was a ton of buzz surrounding LeBron, not everyone on the 2002-03 Cleveland Cavaliers seemed all that impressed by the teenager. When talking about LeBron potentially joining the team the following season, Carlos Boozer and Darius Miles, in particular, downplayed how good James could be.
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.”
Ricky Davis: “LeBron is just going to add to what we need, just make things a little bit easier.”
Smush Parker: “He will come in and make an immediate impact like a Caron Butler did for the Miami Heat.”
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.”
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Miles certainly didn’t seem too high on LeBron, even though the Cavaliers just finished the season as the worst team in the league with a 17-65 record in the regular season.
LeBron James then proceeded to prove both Darius Miles and Carlos Boozer wrong with each passing year.
In his rookie season, the Cavaliers improved to have a 35-47 record in the regular season, finishing just one game behind the eighth-seeded Boston Celtics. LeBron won the Rookie of the Year award, with averages of 20.9 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 5.9 APG, 1.6 SPG, and 0.7 BPG, and it was obvious by then that he is indeed the Chosen One.
In his sophomore year, the Cavaliers improved to 42-40 and just missed the playoffs after losing a tiebreaker to the eighth-seeded New Jersey Nets. LeBron’s averages improved to 27.2 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 7.2 APG, 2.2 SPG, and 0.7 BPG as he really established himself as one of the best players in the league.
In his third year, the Cavaliers made the NBA Playoffs for the first time after going 50-32. They beat the Washington Wizards in the first round but then lost to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in seven games.
LeBron James then proved all his doubters wrong in his fourth year when he led the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals. Even though they lost 4-0 to the San Antonio Spurs, it was the start of LeBron’s journey toward becoming an all-time great, and today, he has made a total of 10 NBA Finals and won four NBA championships.
Darius Miles Spoke About His Infamous Comments Years Later
Miles’ comments will live on in infamy and he was asked about it during an appearance on the Real Ones podcast back in 2021. He stated that he was actually quite excited about LeBron’s potential arrival and the video doesn’t tell the whole story.
“I went to damn near every LeBron James game his senior year,” Miles said. “I am in the stands holding up the f***ing LeBron James sign. I went over to his house for Thanksgiving and had dinner. I know (the) dude. I go and hoop with him at St. Vincent. I know (the) dude. If anybody want him to come here, it’s me.”
Miles went on to state that LeBron is a great guy who was always nice to him. He also stated that he believed James was going to be the next Magic Johnson.
“They got a trading card, upper deck card that says with a quote from me saying that, oh LeBron James is going to be the next Magic Johnson but they don’t never show that motherf*****,” Miles added.
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Well, unfortunately for Miles, people are mostly just going to remember his comments from 2003. You do wonder though why he just seemed to be so down on James coming into the league in that clip if he was as hyped about it as he claimed years later.
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