Darko Milicic had a pretty respectable NBA career. Through 10 seasons, he averaged 6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 0.9 assists per game on 46% shooting.
And while he never became an NBA superstar, expectations were pretty high for him coming out of Serbia.
In fact, back in 2003, Mike D’Antoni once predicted that he would be a better player than LeBron James.
Milicic himself wasn’t short of confidence either back in the day, going so far as to put himself over “King” James.
(via Chad Ford on the Ryan Russillo podcast)
“Darko Milicic was a confident dude, he would argue to your face ‘I’m better than LeBron James.’
I remember I was with Darko at the start of the season and we were driving over to the Palace in Auburn Hills. They are advertising for a preseason game as the Cavs were coming and it’s ‘LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavs are coming.’ And Darko looks at the billboard and goes ‘Why is my name not up there?'”
Darko was the second overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, just one spot below LeBron.
He was obviously viewed as a very high prospect back then, and there was a belief amongst some that he would become the next generational great.
Those dreams never panned out, and while we can’t blame Darko for being self-confident, it is quite funny that almost two decades after saying he was better than LeBron, his legacy isn’t anywhere close to that of LeBron James, who has made a strong case for being the greatest player ever.
