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CNN Saturday Morning News
LeBron James Is Declared Ineligible To Play High School Basketball
Aired February 01, 2003 - 07:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLINS: The nation's top high school basketball player may not be allowed to put on his uniform again. The Ohio High School Athletic Association says LeBron James is ineligible to play. That's because he accepted two free sports jerseys from a clothing store.
James may appeal the decision, but, as Aaron Brown reports, the decision likely won't lock (ph) his NBA dreams.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AARON BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He is just a kid, 18 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has lived up to all the billing.
BROWN: And everyone, it seems, wants a piece of him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at all the GMs and scouts sitting behind us here. They're here to see one guy and one guy only.
LEBRON JAMES: You know, it's a lot of notoriety for me and my teammates, but I just go out, play my game every night, and give it our all. But it's just getting better every day for our team and for myself.
BROWN: LeBron James is the next big deal, a high school senior who will go straight from high school to the NBA, straight from low- income housing to a high-net-worth mansion. A $12 million deal is sitting there waiting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His awareness, his feel for the game is like no high school player I've ever seen. I mean, the way he can pass the ball, he rebounds, can shoot it, his handle is great.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He sees the game at a different speed, and he sees it before -- he sees things happen before other guys do.
BROWN: To be so young and so talented is not without its challenges. The limelight is shining on him in ways high schoolers only dream of. His school moved the team's home games to a larger arena and doubled the ticket prices. Some games have been aired on national TV and pay-per-view cable.
Endorsement deals are being tossed around, and he is just a kid -- a kid who has game, but a kid. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From a national standpoint, the kinds of things that are going on with this situation are not the ideal situations and not the kind of things that we would like to happen, certainly high schools taking advantage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so you ask the question, is this right for high school sports? And you -- it's hard to know. It's, like, somebody has to say no. The school has to say no, the terminal (ph) organizers have to say no, the media conglomerates have to say no.
Interestingly, LeBron himself is starting to say no a little bit, not a lot, but a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing but grades...
BROWN: If he joins the NBA out of high school, he will enter a small fraternity of just 21 others who made the leap.
JAMES: I saw the cameras coming in my direction over there at the table. I'm starting to think to myself, Oh, man, you know, this could be it, I'm (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the NBA.
BROWN: The Lakers' Kobie (ph) Bryant did it, so did Minnesota's Kevin Garnett (ph), but not without some difficulty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, when he gets to this level, it's a different -- you know, this is a different beast you have to deal with. But, you know, as he matures and as he get older, you know, everybody's going to respect the way he plays. But when he first comes in the league, you know, every team -- every guy in this league is going to want a piece of him because he's a kid.
BROWN: But it appears the kid is coming, driving these days a $50,000 car, wearing sneakers the shoe company provided, and, just in case of injury, carrying in hand a multimillion-dollar insurance policy.
LeBron James is growing up, ready or not.
Aaron Brown, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 1, 2003 - 07:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLINS: The nation's top high school basketball player may not be allowed to put on his uniform again. The Ohio High School Athletic Association says LeBron James is ineligible to play. That's because he accepted two free sports jerseys from a clothing store.
James may appeal the decision, but, as Aaron Brown reports, the decision likely won't lock (ph) his NBA dreams.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AARON BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He is just a kid, 18 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has lived up to all the billing.
BROWN: And everyone, it seems, wants a piece of him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at all the GMs and scouts sitting behind us here. They're here to see one guy and one guy only.
LEBRON JAMES: You know, it's a lot of notoriety for me and my teammates, but I just go out, play my game every night, and give it our all. But it's just getting better every day for our team and for myself.
BROWN: LeBron James is the next big deal, a high school senior who will go straight from high school to the NBA, straight from low- income housing to a high-net-worth mansion. A $12 million deal is sitting there waiting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His awareness, his feel for the game is like no high school player I've ever seen. I mean, the way he can pass the ball, he rebounds, can shoot it, his handle is great.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He sees the game at a different speed, and he sees it before -- he sees things happen before other guys do.
BROWN: To be so young and so talented is not without its challenges. The limelight is shining on him in ways high schoolers only dream of. His school moved the team's home games to a larger arena and doubled the ticket prices. Some games have been aired on national TV and pay-per-view cable.
Endorsement deals are being tossed around, and he is just a kid -- a kid who has game, but a kid. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From a national standpoint, the kinds of things that are going on with this situation are not the ideal situations and not the kind of things that we would like to happen, certainly high schools taking advantage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so you ask the question, is this right for high school sports? And you -- it's hard to know. It's, like, somebody has to say no. The school has to say no, the terminal (ph) organizers have to say no, the media conglomerates have to say no.
Interestingly, LeBron himself is starting to say no a little bit, not a lot, but a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing but grades...
BROWN: If he joins the NBA out of high school, he will enter a small fraternity of just 21 others who made the leap.
JAMES: I saw the cameras coming in my direction over there at the table. I'm starting to think to myself, Oh, man, you know, this could be it, I'm (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the NBA.
BROWN: The Lakers' Kobie (ph) Bryant did it, so did Minnesota's Kevin Garnett (ph), but not without some difficulty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, when he gets to this level, it's a different -- you know, this is a different beast you have to deal with. But, you know, as he matures and as he get older, you know, everybody's going to respect the way he plays. But when he first comes in the league, you know, every team -- every guy in this league is going to want a piece of him because he's a kid.
BROWN: But it appears the kid is coming, driving these days a $50,000 car, wearing sneakers the shoe company provided, and, just in case of injury, carrying in hand a multimillion-dollar insurance policy.
LeBron James is growing up, ready or not.
Aaron Brown, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
