New LeBron James Biography: LeBron by Jeff Benedict

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Dynasty and Tiger Woods comes the definitive biography of basketball superstar LeBron James, based on three years of exhaustive research and more than 250 interviews.

LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of the twenty-first century, and he’s in the conversation with Michael Jordan as the greatest of all time. The reigning king of the game and the first active NBA player to become a billionaire, LeBron wears the crown like he was born with it. Yet his ascent has been anything but effortless and predetermined— the truth is vastly more interesting than that.

What makes LeBron’s story so compelling is how he won his destiny despite overwhelmingly long odds, in a drama worthy of a Dickens novel. As a child, he was a scared and lonely little boy living a nomadic existence in Akron, Ohio. His mother, who had LeBron when she was sixteen, would sometimes leave him on his own. Destitute and fatherless, he missed close to one hundred days of school in the fourth grade. Desperate, his mother placed him with a family that gave him stability and put a basketball in his hands.

LeBron tells the full, riveting saga of how a child adrift found the will to become a titan. Jeff Benedict, the most celebrated sports biographer of our time, paints a vivid picture of LeBron’s epic origin story, showing the gradual rise of a star who, surrounded by a tight-knit group of teenage friends and adult mentors, accelerated into a speeding comet during high school. Today LeBron produces Hollywood films and television shows, has a social media presence that includes more than one hundred million followers, engages in political activism, takes outspoken stances on racism and social injustice, and transforms lives through his visionary philanthropy. He went from a lost boy in Akron to a beloved hero who uses his fortune to educate underprivileged children and lift up needy families—and brought home Cleveland’s first NBA championship.

But LeBron is more than just the origin story of a GOAT or a recap of his multi-championship, multi-MVP, gold medal–decorated career on the court. Benedict delves into LeBron’s relationship with fame and power: how he has cultivated it, harnessed it, suffered from it, and leveraged it. In these pages, we go behind the scenes of LeBron’s grappling with his seismic celebrity, from appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high school junior to The Decision, which briefly turned the nation against him. We also watch his evolution from a player who avoided politics and was widely criticized for not joining his teammates in protesting China’s role in the Darfur genocide to becoming an athlete who partnered with President Obama; campaigned for Hillary Clinton; became an advocate against gun violence, racism, and voter suppression; and openly clashed with President Trump, empowering other athletes to speak out against social injustice.

To capture LeBron’s extraordinary life, Benedict conducted hundreds of interviews with the people who were involved with LeBron at different stages of his life. He also obtained thousands of pages of primary source documents and mined hundreds of hours of video footage. Destined to be the authoritative account of LeBron’s life, LeBron is a gripping, inspiring, and unprecedented portrait of one of the world’s most captivating figures.

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Barack Obama congratulates the Lakers and Seattle Storm on their championships and social justice work

On Sunday Brack Obama took to Twitter to congratulate the Los Angeles Lakers and the Seattle Storm on their championships and praised the NBA and WNBA for their work fighting for racial justice during the season.

The former United States President tweeted:

Congrats to the @Lakers and @Seattlestorm on their championship wins! Proud of all the NBA and WNBA teams and players who've been using their platforms to take a stand for racial justice and encourage civic participation this season.

Lakers wear hats to keep attention on Breonna Taylor case

The Los Angeles Lakers arrived to Game 1 of their first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night in red baseball caps, only with a twist.

Each cap had "Make America Great Again" stitched in white letters, just like the one President Donald Trump often wears; but the words "Great Again" were crossed out, and the message "Arrest The Cops Who Killed Breonna Taylor" was printed below them.

"You know, this is something that we continue to put our foot on the gas, continue to pressure," LeBron James said after the Lakers' 100-93 loss. "You know, the situation that's going on in Louisville, Kentucky. An innocent woman being killed in Breonna Taylor, a woman who had a bright future and her future was taken away from her. And there's been no arrests. There's been no justice. Not only for her, but for her family. And we want to continue to shed light on that situation, because it's just unjust, and that's what it's about."

It was a continuation of the calls for awareness about the circumstances surrounding Taylor's death made by the Lakers and many other players since the NBA invited 22 teams to Orlando, Florida, to restart its season last month.

[SOURCE: ESPN]

Lebron James: Back Lives Matter is not a movement...it's a lifestyle

During his media press conference after the LA Lakers first scrimmage in the NBA bubble, Lebron James commented on the Black Lives Matter movement and what it means to him. He said that "When you're Black, it's not a movement. It's a lifestyle..."

Watch his comments below:

Kobe Bryant is a hypocrite for his comments on Miami Heat supporting Trayvon Martin

I'm going to be very honest with you. When I first read Kobe Bryant's comments on the Miami Heat photo in support of Trayvon Martin and his family my first thought was something real profound and thoughtful. F*CK KOBE!

I was mad because Kobe should know that the photo of the Miami Heat was taken when the public was asking that George ( I beat women ) Zimmerman be arrested. The photo was not taken after the verdict in the case. The Heat were only asking for due process to take place not saying that Zimmerman was guilty. And unlike Kobe they were taking a public stand on a social situation which Kobe would never due for fear of f*cking up his money.

Here's what Kobe said:

I won’t react to something just because I’m supposed to, because I’m an African-American,” he said. “That argument doesn’t make any sense to me. So we want to advance as a society and a culture, but, say, if something happens to an African-American we immediately come to his defense? Yet you want to talk about how far we’ve progressed as a society? Well, we’ve progressed as a society, then don’t jump to somebody’s defense just because they’re African-American. You sit and you listen to the facts just like you would in any other situation, right? So I won’t assert myself.”

Now Kobe is entitled to his opinion but he should think before he opens his mouth. You see it seems that Kobe has forgotten his own little rape case back in 2003. When he was accused of rape in Colorado many people rushed to his defense. In truth many didn't know if he was innocent or guilty but many thought the rape charges were an attempt to railroad him as a black man.

Now understand something. Kobe was never that big in the African American community because he came off like an a**hole that would sell you out first opportunity he got ( see Shaq ). And even with that many African American's still rushed to his defense.

I guess that Kobe has forgotten that. I didn't hear him telling African Americans to get their facts first before defending him. He ran "home" again just like OJ Simpson and Michael Jackson did when they got in trouble.

This makes Kobe Bryant a hypocrite. So that brings me back to my original thought after reading Kobe's comments.

F*CK KOBE!