Once Ranked Higher Than LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, This Ex-Basketball Star Took a Major Career-Ending Hit

There have been many players who did exceptionally well at school and collegiate levels but failed to replicate those performances in the NBA. But there aren’t many who have been compared to arguably the greatest high-school talent ever, LeBron James, and still not made it to the pro league. The player in conversation is Lenny Cooke, who once ranked higher than both LeBron and Carmelo Anthony in his high school days. But as destiny would have it, he never made it to the NBA. Former NBA guard Sebastian Telfair recently weighed in on the discussion surrounding Cooke and James.

Appearing on an episode of VLAD TV, Telfair, who came into the league straight out of high school, faced the question of what, according to him, went wrong for Cooke.

“They said Lenny had a lot of people around him and maybe his work ethic. Hmm. I’m not exactly sure. Everybody not gonna make it. Nothing happened. Nothing happened. Everybody is not gonna make it. It’s only, what happened is it’s only 400 jobs. If it was 1000 jobs, they would have had a spot for him,” Telfair said.

However, Telfair also disclosed another possibility of Cooke not making it to the NBA, despite ranking higher than LeBron and Carmelo. He said that there are factors like what agents he was with or who he pissed off, which could have affected things for him. “It could be something simple like that. It could have been he’s taking money from these agents over here and then now he get a new agent when he about to go to the NBA. And now these dudes right here create a narrative and then he’s done,” Telfair said on VLAD TV.

It is worth mentioning that Cooke was averaging 25 points and 10 rebounds per game in his junior year, and the stats went even higher in his senior year. However, the regulatory restrictions cut his senior season short when he turned 19. However, in just eight games, Cooke averaged 31.5 points, which resulted in his peak hype.

A closer look into what led to Lenny Cooke’s downfall

Things went downhill from that point onwards, especially after he got overshadowed by LeBron in 2001. This happened at the ABCD Camp, where James claimed the MVP spotlight for himself and became the top prospect. Another blunder that cost Cooke his future in the big league was entering the NBA draft at an early stage. Cooke had multiple offers from universities which he ideally should have gone with.

But apparently, he was sold the big dreams of the league by the many agents who contacted him. He was told that any of the clubs would be willing to pick him, but that dream shattered as he went undrafted in 2002.

After going through various other formats of basketball, Cooke’s career eventually ended with Achilles’ injuries on both legs. If he could have surpassed the legacy of LeBron James is a different question, but such a tragic career ending for a player with such immense potential seems unjustified.