Lebron James is on the cover of Time Magazine
James is the rarest of athletes, a phenom who has actually exceeded the enormous expectations that trailed him out of an Akron, Ohio, high school. He skipped college for the pros in 2003 and guided his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, to the NBA finals last year. This season he became the youngest player in NBA history to score 10,000 career points. He has earned more than $165 million in salary and endorsements.
Only 23, James is now the voice of the U.S. team. “When you watch us play this summer, you’re going to be hearing LeBron on the court, yelling and screaming, talking on defense,” says Wade. “There’s going to be that leadership that we need.” On a team filled with All-Stars and Great Wall-size egos, James insists he can still treat Jason Kidd, a 14-year NBA vet, and Bryant, the league’s reigning mvp, like green rookies if they screw up. He’ll feel free to scream in their face. “I can’t play unless I’m that type,” he says. “There’s no way I can hold back.”
He’s not demure off the court either. “Loud,” says Wade when asked to describe James’ personality. “Loud,” says Bryant. “He talks sunup to sunset,” says U.S. forward Carlos Boozer. Kidd is expressing the same sentiment when he stops and glances up. “Hear that?” Kidd says. “See what I mean?” James is marching down a hallway, belting out rap lyrics.
While fame seemed to trap Michael Jordan, James clearly loves the life of LeBron. The endorsement loot (Nike, Coca-Cola, Upper Deck) surely helps. But give James credit for staying playful. As the U.S. team filed onto a bus during a New York City promotional tour, James was the only one dancing. When each player was introduced to young, squealing crowds at Rockefeller Center, James was the only guy who ran into the front row, slapping high fives, nearly inciting the 8-year-olds to riot. “I got a lot of kid in me,” says James, who, at 6 ft. 8 in. and 240 lb., has always looked, oh, a decade older than he is.
James has also matured. Nike-clad icons like Tiger Woods and Jordan resist politics at all costs. In 1990, when Jordan refused to back a black candidate running against Jesse Helms for a Senate seat, he famously noted that Republicans buy sneakers too. James, however, is diving in. “I’m at the point in my life where I should really start paying attention,” he says. He recently met Michelle Obama at a fund raiser, and he told Time he plans to campaign for her husband, a well-known hoophead. (Call him, Senator Obama. You need Ohio for the White House, and LeBron knows how to score in the Buckeye State.)
James has already had his political baptism by fire. Last spring, Cleveland player Ira Newble asked his teammates to sign an open letter to China protesting the country’s interests in Sudan, where the government has sponsored atrocities in the Darfur region. Only James and Damon Jones, a Cav with a shoe deal in China, refused. James took a ton of heat — the Chinese buy sneakers too. But he wanted time to understand these international issues, and he’s grown more comfortable speaking out on Darfur. “I’m not going to get up on a panel and sit in front of a board or something like that,” he says. “But if I’m asked the question, I will definitely answer it.”
Time Magazine
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