James leads the Lakers in his 21st season
A delivery room on the second floor of Akron General Medical Center, now called Summa Akron City Hospital, was the site of the true beginning of the journey. LeBron Raymone James Sr. was born there on Sunday, December 30, 1984. Gloria Marie James, a single mother, gave him life. Rosemary Williams, in charge of the hospital’s maternity admissions office for more than thirty years, did not record the presence of anyone who announced himself as the child’s father. Neither she nor LeBron knew him.
Also in 1984, but at the beginning of the year, Bruce Springsteen’s iconic album ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ appeared. was released. With more than fifteen million copies of that work sold in the United States, the singer and guitarist achieved his greatest popularity. Of humble origins, like LeBron, the musician did not forget his origins when he reached the top. The two knew how to raise their voices by getting involved in political issues. That 1984 unites them: while the entire world was already listening to Springsteen, little LeBron offered his first combination of screams and cries at birth. ‘The Boss’ welcomed who years later would be ‘The King’. Of the 74 basketball players born in 1984 who ever participated in the NBA, only LeBron is still active in the best league in the world. In this 2023-2024 season there are no longer players older than him.
Not only that: James is older than three coaches: Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics is 35 years old (June 30, 1988), Will Hardy of the Utah Jazz is also 35 (January 21, 1988) and Mark Daigneault , of Oklahoma City Thunder, 38 (February 23, 1985). The Los Angeles Lakers star was unaware of this information until he faced the Jazz for the first time in the current campaign. “That I’m older than who?” He was surprised by a journalist’s question. And upon confirming that the person initially mentioned had been Hardy, he just laughed.
In 1999, Springsteen was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In his songs he gave voice to the unprotected and the working class. LeBron, who will enter the Basketball Hall of Fame as soon as he retires, rebelled against police mistreatment of black people as a standard bearer of the historic protest that proclaimed ‘Black Lives Matter’ during the Orlando Bubble, actively invited Americans to participate in the elections, he confronted Donald Trump and the journalists who tried to silence him. “You can’t light a fire without a spark,” Bruce sings in ‘Dancing in the Dark’. Springsteen has it. James too.
LeBron is not only one of the best players in basketball history. He says what he thinks and doesn’t shut up. Not only does he have a birthday, but he knows those who he feels he represents on and off the court.
LBJ’s best performances on his birthday
This Saturday, December 30, the Lakers, with 17 wins and 15 losses, will visit the Minnesota Timberwolves, current leader of the Western Conference with 23 wins and 7 losses.
Over the previous 20 seasons, LeBron played in 8 NBA games on the night of his birthday, with some memorable performances.
In 2009, when he turned 25, he scored 48 points in a close victory for the Cleveland Cavaliers over the Atlanta Hawks.
In 2011, already with the Miami Heat, he contributed a double-double of 34 points and 10 assists in the victory over the Timberwolves. James set up Dwyane Wade for the game-winning shot with 5 seconds left.
In 2013, he had another double-double: 26 points and 10 assists in a three-point victory over the Denver Nuggets. LeBron converted the basket to go ahead with 2:21 left in the fourth quarter.
In 2022, in celebration of his 38th birthday, he shined with 47 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists in the Lakers’ victory over the Hawks.
With or without a game on the night of his birthday, LeBron surpassed 1,000 points in the previous 20 seasons and 2,000 in half of them. In his twenty-first campaign, that boy from Akron and today a man from Los Angeles is going down that path. The validity of the leader of the Lakers is one of his great virtues.
The numbers in points, rebounds, assists and other statistical items are a sample of the King’s journey. But the highlight of his career is that he not only won championships and awards, but he also won the most difficult battle: he defeated time. As they say in the play ‘What the River Does’: “Time does not always last the same, stay in the place where time lasts the longest.” That’s what LeBron does in the NBA.
