Former NBA star Antoine Walker has dismissed LeBron James‘ claims regarding his play in the summer runs organized by Michael Jordan’s former trainer Tim Grover. James had claimed he was unguardable in a pickup game with Jordan and other pros as a 16-year-old high school sophomore, but Walker, who also took part in the runs, stated that wasn’t the case on Run It Back on FanDuel TV.
“Well, he wasn’t unguardable,” Walker said. “… When LeBron came in, obviously he was only 16, 17 years old. I mean, we had heard of him, but Tim wasn’t going to let him play over guys that were paying clients of his. So, he got to play towards the end of the run.
“One thing that is true, he was able to hold his own,” Walker stated. “But you know how it is. When them first five or six games, where the runs are intense and you’re going at it, he wasn’t a part of those. He got to play kind of towards the end of the runs when he first came in.
“But you could see the potential obviously when he was playing,” Walker continued. “You could see it. But as far as dominating or anything like that, no, that wasn’t the case.”
Walker claims James was just able to hold his own when the professionals were all tired after playing multiple games. LeBron himself had stated that young players like him only got to play when the older ones got tired, so that part is accurate. His recollection of his performance was very different from that of Walker’s, though.
“I was unguardable”, James said. “When I finally got out there, I was like, ‘I’m busting a**.’ I was nervous. I was nervous as hell, being out there with MJ and the rest of those guys. But I was like, ‘Oh, I’m about to go crazy.’ And I did, I did.”
So, who’s telling the truth here? Well, there were plenty of other notable players there, like Metta Sandiford-Artest. Here is what Artest had to say about James’ performance.
“Everybody knew who he was. He was already famous. I’m like, I want to see what he got. He was cooking. He was 15 or 16 posting, getting to the basket and I’m like, ‘This is going to be a huge issue,’ you know, and for sure it was.”
“When I saw that, it motivated me. I’m like, ‘I got to go to work.’ He coming into the league cooking. I was not like that when I was 15. … He could have gone pro right then honestly.”
James has often been accused of lying, but Artest’s comments indicate he was telling the truth there. The former DPOY was so impressed that he thought LeBron could enter the NBA back then, which speaks to what kind of impression he made on him.
James would come into the NBA straight out of high school in 2003 as the first pick of the draft. He would win Rookie of the Year and has gone on to have such an incredible career that some have started to believe he is the greatest player of all time.
