LeBron Told A Story About The Greatest Pickup Game Of All Time Featuring Michael Jordan, Antoine Walker, Ron Artest, Penny Hardaway, Paul Pierce, And High School Sophomore LeBron James
Anyone who's been to a sleep-away basketball camp knows the real games don't start until the majority of the camp was in bed. Typically those games consist of a whole heap of low-to-mid-level D1 ball players. Great runs, lots of trash talk, extremely fun to watch, NOWHERE NEAR AS INCREDIBLE as what LeBron's talking about here. I know this isn't the exact website to show LeBron some love but I've always appreciated how much of a fan of basketball he is. Those who came before him, young guys who came after him, The Big 3, WNBA, his on kid's AAU games, if there's a hoop and a ball he'll watch. And 16-year old LeBron got to watch one of the best runs I've ever heard of.
I can't imagine how much money Antoine lost during these runs. Jordan should really be ashamed for how thoroughly he drained that man's bank account. I know he became a punchline but in case you forgot, this story is a great reminder for the caliber of basketball player Antoine Walker really was during his day. There's a reason he was one of the two captains, the other of which being MICHAEL JORDAN, with this lot of Hall of Famers and All Stars running five on five. 16-year old LeBron puts this game in the Summer of '01. Which means Jordan was gearing up for his first year back after a three year retirement. And he was still the best player on the court featuring NBA players very much in their primes. Antoine was five years in, Paul Pierce was a young buck, Penny's knees still had some life in them, Ron Artest was still named Ron Artest, Jerry Stackhouse just came off an All Star campaign where he averaged 30 a night, and there was 16-year old LeBron James. There not being tape of these runs, and the thousands of runs like this over the past three decades after guys started really training together, is downright criminal. I'd pay north of $19.99 plus shipping AND handling to watch Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Paul Pierce, Jamal Crawford, Antoine Walker, and literally anyone else play 20 year old basketball, talk 20 year old shit, and exchange 20 year old green backs.