LeBron James has opened up on up on his image amid various aspersions being cast online.
The Los Angeles Lakers star has maintained a squeaky-clean reputation despite being in the spotlight since he was a teenager in high school.
James bypassed college to jump straight into the NBA and was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2003. Going on 22 years later, he has surpassed expectations. Whenever he decides to hang it up, he will depart as the league’s all-time leading scorer, having usurped Kareem Abdul-Jabar last year.
But somewhat even more impressively, he has avoided controversies and scandals and is an exemplary husband and father.
The four-time NBA champion was recently a guest on Jason and Travis Kelce’s ‘New Heights’ podcast and explained how he has maintained such high standards despite being a celebrity for well over two decades.
“You can’t be a s–t show,” he said. “You can’t be a piece of s–t, you can’t be doing things that affects anything that has anything to do with your profession and being available to your teammates, being available to the franchise and being available every time you get out there that causes a distraction. I felt that.
“When I started to start my family that was another part of it. I knew [his wife] Savannah was the one and I started having kids and I was like, ‘I didn’t have that male influence. My dad wasn’t around.’ I was, ‘OK I can’t f–k that up.’
“… To the young guys out there that feel the pressure, that feel like it’s maybe too much — if you just put the work on, don’t be an asshole, be a good person and dedicate yourself to the craft, the game will always be kind to you.”
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To do what James has done after growing up without a father makes this even more remarkable.
The NBA superstar has been open about not having a relationship with his dad and being raised by his mother after she had him at the age of just 16.
“One, knowing where I came from… you know that you’re one and two and three in a billion,” James said. “If you get that opportunity man, you can’t f–k it up, you just can’t. Being from a single parent household, just me and my mom, I have no siblings — seeing the struggle that my mom went through and things of that nature that was another thing that I was like, ‘OK you can’t f–k her up’ because now you’re given this opportunity.
“Then I started thinking about my career, and I was like, ‘how do you want to be remembered? Do you want to go out and just play ball or do you actually want to be remembered when you’re not playing ball?’ So I took that into consideration and I took that into serious account. I was like ‘I want to be the greatest that anyone has ever seen in this sport, ever.”
LeBron James Hasn’t Been Able To Escape The Rumors
While LeBron James has remained scandal-free since entering the NBA, there have been rumors of various misdeeds.
A podcaster recently claimed that it’s known in celebrity circles that LBJ is a serial cheater who has his people approach women on his behalf and then gets them to sign NDAs once they get involved.
He was also the subject of some concerning claims from DJ Akademiks, who said that the Lakers forward would join rapper Drake in Canada, with the artist supplying women for their escapades.
LeBron’s relationship with Diddy has also placed him under some scrutiny, but there has been no evidence to suggest he isn’t the man most people think he is.