Throwback Clip of LeBron James Talking About Battling Against Lakers Surfaces
LeBron James entered the NBA back in 2003 with arguably more hype and expectations than any athlete in professional sports ever. He dawned a 'Chosen 1' tattoo on his back, already graced the cover of Sports Illustrated and decided against playing in college before making his way to the league.
Basketball fans were looking for somebody to become the next face of the NBA after Michael Jordan and even though a certain star shooting guard on the Lakers known as Kobe Bryant was coming off of a three-peat with the franchise, multiple options are always needed.
Something that stood out about The King from a young age was that he never backed down from anybody he went up against and instead did his best to rise to the occasion. Old footage recently surfaced of James talking about what it was like to go up against the purple and gold back in the 2000's and his reaction says it all!
"Everybody gets excited to play the Hollywood Lakers," said James. "They ain't the Los Angeles Lakers no more, they the Hollywood Lakers. They got Malone, they got four hall-of-famers so you get excited to play them especially in LA."
(Via NBA Stat Guy)
The Lakers did put together quite the roster in that 2004 season as they added Karl Malone and Gary Payton to help their superstar duo of Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.
Fast-forward to 2023 and now it is James who is the premier superstar on the 'Hollywood' Lakers. Perhaps he saw the vision since way back then!
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