LeBron James was perhaps the most hyped player coming out of high school. His high school games were drawing more attention on national TV than some NBA teams and the gyms were always stacked with people wanting to witness the new big thing in basketball.
James was dubbed ‘The Chosen One’ even before playing a single minute of NBA basketball, as some people claimed that he was going to take down Michael Jordan as the greatest to ever do it.
LeBron himself admitted that Jordan was his biggest inspiration and that he wanted to work on his craft and understand the game better as the years go by the same way that he did because he wanted to be the best player on the planet.
That, combined with his unmatched popularity as a teenager is why producers thought that LeBron was the right man to do the Space Jam sequel even before he became a superstar. In fact, he recently admitted that he was offered the job 15 years ago but he turned it down because he wanted to get better as a player:
“I didn’t think I was ready to do anything of that magnitude. I wanted to continue to focus on my game and give it as much as I could,” James said, as quoted by Talk Basketball.
Fast-forward to today and LeBron James proved that he was – in fact – the chosen one. Not only he’s one of the greatest players to ever do it but also one of the leading MVP candidates at age 36 and entering his 18th season in the NBA.
Looking back, there’s no doubt that James made the right call turning down that role. Now, he’s mature and ready to carry on Michael Jordan’s torch in the Big Screen as well. He definitely went full circle.
