With LeBron James putting on one of the most spectacular Finals performances in NBA history, an Ohio television station has released a delightful interview with the Cleveland Cavaliers star when he was just a sophomore in high school.
James, then a scrawny kid at St. Vincent-St. Mary's high school in Akron, Ohio, was coming off his second straight Ohio state championship. In the interview with a local reporter named Kirk Herbstreit, James touches on his goals ("to make the NBA"), what he needs to work on ("defense and three-point shooting") and why he probably won't play college football ("they hit too hard").
Herbstreit in this tweet speaks for most people who watched the clip:
Crazy! 14 years ago?!? Wow! https://t.co/7vHePGTnc3
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) June 10, 2015
As for the final two years of James' high school career, well, things turned out pretty well. James and his teammates went on to win one more state title and a national title.
It would have been hard for James, much less anyone else, to predict the success that he's had thus far in his NBA career. That 16-year-old has now been to six NBA Finals and won four MVP awards. He's two wins away from his third ring, and in the first three games of this year's championship series James is averaging 41 points, 12 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game.