"Well I wish I still had that Nappy Afro" - LeBron James gives a wholesome reaction after finding a vintage clip of him playing in the ABCD camp as a 16-year old
LeBron James, the kid from Akron, Ohio, now sits atop the mountain of NBA accomplishments. In his 18-years in the league, he has achieved everything the league and the sport of basketball had to offer.
With a long, spectacular career behind James, it is often easy to forget the time when he wasn't a household name.
On Saturday evening, LeBron James was astounded to find a video from the bygone era. An era where he was still a kid unburdened by scrutiny and fame.
The video, shared by a Twitter account called LeBron Factory, showed 16-year-old James participating in scrimmages with other high school talents. James, an avid social media user, was quick to retweet the video with a caption that read:
"Wow! Never seen some of this footage before. Well I wish I still had that Nappy Afro! #ThekidfromAKRON"
Wow! Never seen some of this footage before. Well I wish I still had that Nappy Afro! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤷🏾♂️ #ThekidfromAKRON🤴🏾 twitter.com/lebronfactory/…
LeBron James won the MVP award at the 2001 ABCD camp
At 16, attending his first ABCD camp, James was still fairly unknown. While players like Carmelo Anthony, also an attendee of the same camp the same year, were better known. LeBron James was yet to explode on the scene.
In fact, the top prospect of the season was a player named Lenny Cooke.
ABCD Camp ran from 1992 to 2006 and hosted some of the best players in the modern era of basketball.
Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce, Derrick Rose, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kevin Garnett are a few of the names on the list of future NBA stars that attended the ABCD camp.
. @kobebryant talking to HS players, including @KingJames, at ABCD camp twitter.com/SpectrumSN/sta… https://t.co/r6UABrCbRo
LeBron James, in 2001, battled Cooke in the camp finals and won the game and the MVP award. Lenny Cooke, who was one of the top high school prospects in 2001, never made it to the NBA.
The 2013 film titled "Lenny Cooke" shows his journey after going unpicked in the 2002 NBA drafts.
James, the Nappy Afro kid who was unknown to most in 2001, went on to become one of the greatest basketball players of all-time. He has won 4 league titles with three different teams. He also won the first ever and only championship for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
A four-time finals MVP and 17-time All-Star (on the verge of making his 18th appearance), James is still performing at superhuman levels.
The de facto leader of the Los Angeles Lakers is averaging 29 points, 6.5 assists, and 7.9 rebounds per game. He is also averaging 2.8 threes per game, the highest tally in his entire career. It is safe to assume that the kid with the nappy afro is indeed legit.