LeBron James
Whenever his illustrious career comes to a close, we’ll look back at LeBron James as the second greatest basketball player in NBA history… if not higher. The kid from Akron, Ohio spent most of his formative years moving from place to place and home to home as his mother, Gloria James, struggled to keep a steady roof over her son’s head.
But rumors about the kid from St. Vincent-St. Mary’s basketball team began to emerge as early as James’ freshman year, and by the time he was a senior in high school, James and his team were already being featured in ESPN prime time broadcasts — an unprecedented spectacle back then. Eventually, James chose to skip college altogether, and became the #1 overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft. And the rest, as they say, is history.