LeBron James Success Story

Childhood

LeBron James was born on December 30, 1984 in Akron, Ohio. He was raised by his single mother who often did not have sufficient money to pay rent for their residence. So she sent her son to stay with a local football coach who introduced LeBron to basketball at the age of nine. As he was growing up he chose to play for the Northeast Ohio Shooting Stars team. As part of this team LeBron was able to achieve success at both the local and the national level.

Instead of joining his local public school he joined St. Vincent-St. Mary High School which had predominantly more number of white students. In his freshman year LeBron had averaged 21 points and 6 rebounds per game. But he soon averaged 29 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 3.3 steals per game. This was a dramatic growth in such a short period of time. He was improving his overall game quickly and becoming a very valuable player to his team.

Early Career

In 2002, LeBron tried to enter the NBA, but was considered ineligible because he had not yet graduated from High School. In his senior year LeBron’s average stood at 31.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 3.4 steals per game. For his achievements, he was named Ohio’s Mr. Basketball for three years in a row. He was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated which was a hint at the expectations that rested on him. All his matches were having seating problems because of the increased number of spectators coming to watch him play. In 2003, he was selected in the NBA draft to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers. In his first game itself he scored 25 points. He averaged 20.9 points, 5.9 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game in that year. He was awarded the Rookie of the Year Award.

Career

In the next season he became the youngest player in the history of the league to score a triple-double. For his excellent performance that season, he was selected into the All-NBA Team becoming the youngest ever to do so.  In 2006, he helped the Cavaliers qualify for the play-offs for the first time since 1998. He signed a four year contract with the Cavaliers for a sum of $60 million for playing for them till the 2009-10 season. LeBron took the Cavaliers to the play-offs in every subsequent year with his consistent performances. But he was disappointed at not being able to win the NBA Championship.