“A Teenager With Pro Game”: Former Teammate Reveals First Impression of Young LeBron James

The San Antonio Spurs are a force to reckon with in the 21st century. In 2013, they faced defending champions Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. The Spurs were loaded with guns like Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, and Tony Parker. Still, they might not have imagined what was coming their way. The big three, Chris Bosh, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade had one heck of a game. The trio contributed 85 points and 30 rebounds in a 109-93 crucial 4th game victory over the Spurs.

They introduced themselves to the world with this triple eruption. But, even today, most people do not know much about the relationship that Chris Bosh and LeBron James share. We will discuss exactly that here.

The Chris Bosh and LeBron James tale

In a newsletter, CB4 shared some very enthralling insights into his relationship with LeBron James. We saw the trio play together for four seasons. It was in 2010 when they were all drafted together in the first five picks. But Chris Bosh got the flavor of how good LeBron was, way earlier than this. He remembers, “When I first met him, ‘LeBron James’ was a name, not a face. The year was 2001, we were at ABCD camp in Teaneck, New Jersey”.

So that is when the two teenagers met, not knowing that they would grow up to feature in the list of the most feared players of all time. Or maybe they did know, but individually. Remembering The Akron Hammer as “a teenager with pro game”, Chris added, “Everything I could do, everything I thought set me apart, he could do, too.”

The championship DNA was easily distinguishable in them all, even at an early age. Chris further stated, “That’s where we really became friends: The Olympics.”

They spent a lot of quality time together and meanwhile won a Gold. The way Chris Bosh summed up his Olympic victory explains the trust he had in the team and in himself from a young age.

The heartbreaks and the revamp

In 2011, we saw a crying and sobbing Chris Bosh. Now, it is rare to see a 6’11” champion prospect to shed tears on national television. But that happened when they lost the NBA Finals 2-4  to the Dallas Mavericks.

Since that enormous setback, Bosh made it a point to bring a trophy home. He averaged 18 ppg, 7.9 rpg, and 1.8 apg in the next season and won that title.

But he still relishes something about that game 4, much more than any other game he played and won.

He revealed, “But hugging Bron and D after Game Four, I wasn’t even thinking about winning. I was focused on survival—that we’d fought our way to a win on the road, and now things were even. Deeper than that was something I’d known since we were teenagers: you could ever hope to have on your end of the court.”That these were two of the most tenacious guys you could ever hope to have on your end of the court.”

Later in the coming years, we all know how LeBron made a choice to move his services to the Cleveland Cavaliers. At that point in time, Dwyane Wade was suffering from migraine issues and then a foot injury too. This put an end to the Big Three, but the story of their relation brings back all the love and respect we carry for them.