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Is Lebron James most hyped teenage player of All Time?




Dude considered as 'phenom', the best highschool player ever, also labelled as a "Chosen One", "Next One" & "The King" long before he came to the NBA.

And called unanimous #1 overall pick by almost everyone.


Lebron on Sports Illustrated cover. 2002



'Slam' Cover. 2001

...I don't understand the question given how his NBA career has turned out.

Replace the word "overhyped" with "hyped", and your question makes sense.

Overhyped would almost imply that it wasn't warranted. So I wouldn't say overhyped. But he was certainly the most hyped. I still remember the SI article that basically introduced him to the nation. He wasn't the first HS player to be on the cover of S.I.... just in my time as a fan alone I remember Felipe Lopez being hyped as the next big thing when he signed with St. John's before he had ever played a College game. But when you actually read the article you knew something about Lebron was different. Respected basketball people were putting quotes out there about him that just had to floor you. One that still lingers in my mind was Danny ainge saying something along the lines of "there aren't 5 players in the league that I wouldn't trade for Lebron right now" when he was a HS junior. I remember reading that and thinking "holy crap!"

Then of course they started televising several of his games on ESPN. His highlights were on spprtscenter every night. NBA players would be caught in attendance at his games regularly, catching him whenever their team visited the area to see what the hype was about. It really was an unprecedented phenomenon. Even with social media and media in general exploding since then, we still haven't seen something on par with it

If the question is "hyped", then yeah.

Overhyped would mean he was some kind of disappointment, and he's in the GOAT conversation nowadays, so I would say the hype was deserved.

bondom34 wrote:

Living in NY the Telfair hype was off the charts. NY had such a rich history of producing great PGs, just being a NYC point guard gave you the credibility as a stud prospect because you were just considered the next in the endless assembly line of studs which just kept coming. We found out pretty quick that wasn't going to last forever. Generation of Telfair and Omar Cook killed it. Now years later we have a guy like Kemba Walker putting in work, but they have gotten further and fewer between.

Wouldn't say overhyped if top 10 all time and for sure top 5 all time when all said and done

Only one that I can remember that might have been more hyped was Kareem but with the much greater media focus today, certainly LeBron would be greater.

I'm just weirded out by the fact that LeBron still looks exactly the same. Dude was a manchild at 15 years old.

clyde21 wrote:I'm just weirded out by the fact that LeBron still looks exactly the same. Dude was a manchild at 15 years old.

Definitely was one of the oldest looking teenagers around... until Greg Oden:


The dude looked like he was 70 years old in college.

RCM88x wrote:

clyde21 wrote:I'm just weirded out by the fact that LeBron still looks exactly the same. Dude was a manchild at 15 years old.

Definitely was one of the oldest looking teenagers around... until Greg Oden:


The dude looked like he was 70 years old in college.

Nah, still has all his hair and it's still black, doesn't look a day over 50.

What do you guys think would be the hype for Kareem had the media back then was like today? He lost what, twice or thrice in his whole College career? Man.

Pretty sure most consider Kareem the best HS player ever. Even in the modern era though Lebron has a lot of competition for best HS player ever. Guys like Bobby Hurley, Pearl Washington, and Greg Oden,

KobesScarf wrote:Pretty sure most consider Kareem the best HS player ever. Even in the modern era though Lebron has a lot of competition for best HS player ever. Guys like Bobby Hurley, Pearl Washington, and Greg Oden,

Bobby Hurley? Lol cmon with that. Having lived in the area he wasn't even the best (nor even close to most hyped) PG during that period in the tri state, that would be Kenny Anderson, who was much better than him and was the first 4 time parade all American since Kareem. They were playing at the same time and Kenny got much more buzz locally and was way more talented. Hurley just had the fortune of playing for a monster his dad created. That team won state championships several years in a row before hurley even got there as well as years after. They won like 10 or 11 state titles in a row at one point. His dad created a monster dynasty, he just had the fortune of being there for a portion of it

JulesWinnfield wrote:

KobesScarf wrote:Pretty sure most consider Kareem the best HS player ever. Even in the modern era though Lebron has a lot of competition for best HS player ever. Guys like Bobby Hurley, Pearl Washington, and Greg Oden,

Bobby Hurley? Lol cmon with that. Having lived in the area he wasn't even the best PG during that period in the tri state, that would be Kenny Anderson, who was much better than him and was the first 4 time parade all American since Kareem. They were playing at the same time and Kenny got much more buzz locally and was way more talented. Hurley just had the fortune of playing for a monster his dad created. That team won state championships several years in a row before hurley even got there as well as years after. They won like 10 or 11 state titles in a row at one point

Bobby Hurley won not just state championships but national championships with his dad. Kenny was style Hurley was substance. OP's premise was most hyped and Kenny Anderson was more hyped but I'm focusing on best since he also called Lebron the best HS player ever.

KobesScarf wrote:

JulesWinnfield wrote:

KobesScarf wrote:Pretty sure most consider Kareem the best HS player ever. Even in the modern era though Lebron has a lot of competition for best HS player ever. Guys like Bobby Hurley, Pearl Washington, and Greg Oden,

Bobby Hurley? Lol cmon with that. Having lived in the area he wasn't even the best PG during that period in the tri state, that would be Kenny Anderson, who was much better than him and was the first 4 time parade all American since Kareem. They were playing at the same time and Kenny got much more buzz locally and was way more talented. Hurley just had the fortune of playing for a monster his dad created. That team won state championships several years in a row before hurley even got there as well as years after. They won like 10 or 11 state titles in a row at one point

Bobby Hurley won not just state championships but national championships with his dad. Kenny was style Hurley was substance.

Dude anyone who knows enough to know better thinks this sounds absurdly ridiculous. Kenny Anderson was straight up way more talented than bobby Hurley and certainly way more hyped. Not a program in the nation would have taken Hurley over Kenny and that includes Duke who wound up with Hurley only after whiffing on Kenny. We knew about Kenny when he was like 12 years old. Anyone who lived in the tri state area in that time knows this. I mean, it's not even close. Most scouting rankings had him over Shaq!

And Kenny was all style and no substance? NY might have the richest HS basketball history of any state in the nation (along with maybe cali due to its shear size) and he ended his career there owning several records despite his coach having dumb rules regarding freshman that limited some of his stats. He was named all city all 4 years and first guy since Kareem to be a 4x parade all American. Kenny was always a bigger prospect and miles more talented. Your only argument for bobby Hurley involves winning... which the program was doing at a dynastic level both before and after him

therealbig3 wrote:If the question is "hyped", then yeah.

Overhyped would mean he was some kind of disappointment, and he's in the GOAT conversation nowadays, so I would say the hype was deserved.

agreed. I'm not a Golf fan but I remember when Tiger was in college. Everyone who followed ameatur golf said this guy will be the best golfer of his generation and maybe of all time. They were right.

Same thing with Lebron. It seems every person of note who saw him in HS said this guy will be an absolute, no question HOFer and maybe the best of all time. They were right.

It is kind of amazing Lebron turned out okay as a person considering the megafame he had as a young man. The only other celebrity I can think of who handled it so well is Paul McCartney.

JulesWinnfield wrote:

KobesScarf wrote:

JulesWinnfield wrote:
Bobby Hurley? Lol cmon with that. Having lived in the area he wasn't even the best PG during that period in the tri state, that would be Kenny Anderson, who was much better than him and was the first 4 time parade all American since Kareem. They were playing at the same time and Kenny got much more buzz locally and was way more talented. Hurley just had the fortune of playing for a monster his dad created. That team won state championships several years in a row before hurley even got there as well as years after. They won like 10 or 11 state titles in a row at one point

Bobby Hurley won not just state championships but national championships with his dad. Kenny was style Hurley was substance.

Dude anyone who knows enough to know better thinks this sounds absurdly ridiculous. Kenny Anderson was straight up way more talented than bobby Hurley and certainly way more hyped. Not a program in the nation would have taken Hurley over Kenny and that includes Duke who wound up with Hurley only after whiffing on Kenny. We knew about Kenny when he was like 12 years old. Anyone who lived in the tri state area in that time knows this. I mean, it's not even close. Most scouting rankings had him over Shaq!

And Kenny was all style and no substance? NY might have the richest HS basketball history of any state in the nation (along with maybe cali due to its shear size) and he ended his career there owning several records despite his coach having dumb rules regarding freshman that limited some of his stats. He was named all city all 4 years and first guy since Kareem to be a 4x parade all American. Kenny was always a bigger prospect and miles more talented. Your only argument for bobby Hurley involves winning... which the program was doing at a dynastic level both before and after him

Kenny Anderson was a great great HS player more hyped than Hurley I just don't think he was better. Hurley was a great player independent of his HS program he was MVP with Shaq of the McDonald's game.

Ralph Sampson is another GOAT HS player there were talks that Lakers would of taken him number 1 over Magic if he declared out of HS

Lebron lost his finals in HS and sort of dissapeared.

A sign of things to come.

He did allright though, generally I think it's a bad idea to rate high school players. Even Lebron played against guys barely in puberty at times, while he was a full grown man at 15.

PLenty of guys got a lot of hype, they just killed their own hype really fast by not matching up to the lofty expectations LeBron had now set for young players.