LeBron James

LeBron James was born in Akron, Ohio, on December 30, 1984, and by his sophomore year at St. Vincent–St. Mary High School the school was moving home games to the University of Akron's 5,492-seat arena to fit the alumni, fans, and NBA scouts who wanted in. The February 18, 2002, issue of Sports Illustrated put the seventeen-year-old junior on its cover under the headline "The Chosen One," the first high-school basketball underclassman ever to get it; the photo was shot at his school. James later said it "pushed me onto the national stage, whether I was ready for it or not," and his team lost the state final that year, the only season of his high school career without a title. Senior year brought high school games sold on pay-per-view, a Hummer H2 for his eighteenth birthday that triggered a state investigation (he was cleared), and a two-game suspension over $845 worth of throwback jerseys. He came back from it with 52 points.

Nike won a three-way bidding war in May 2003 with a seven-year deal worth about $90 million, and that June the hometown Cavaliers took him first overall. He chose 23 for Michael Jordan, scored 25 in his debut, and became the first Cavalier named Rookie of the Year. The peak nights followed: 29 points and the MVP at the 2006 All-Star Game, the Cavaliers' first playoff trip since 1998, and Game 5 of the 2007 conference finals in Detroit, when he scored the Cavaliers' last 25 points, including the winning layup with 2.2 seconds left in double overtime, and carried the team to its first Finals, where San Antonio swept it. He won the 2008 scoring title at 30 a game, led a 66-win team to the franchise's first MVP award in 2009, and repeated as MVP in 2010.

Then came July 8, 2010. On a live ESPN special called The Decision, broadcast from a Boys & Girls Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, James spent nearly half an hour in conversation with Jim Gray before announcing he was "taking my talents to South Beach." Nearly ten million people watched on average and 13.1 million at the moment of the announcement; the show raised $2.5 million for the Boys & Girls Clubs and another $3.5 million for charity from its ads. In Cleveland, some fans filmed themselves burning his jersey while owner Dan Gilbert published a furious letter. James later said he regretted how he handled it.

He came home in 2014 and, in 2016, led the Cavaliers back from 3–1 down in the Finals against Golden State, finishing Game 7 with a triple-double and a chase-down block of Andre Iguodala, for Cleveland's first professional championship in 52 years. The "Chosen 1" tattoo is still across his back; as of 2026 he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer, a four-time champion, and still playing.