From the moment LeBron James emerged onto the national scene as a prep phenom in the early 2000s, he was touted as the next big thing.
Pick one. From Magic Johnson to Michael Jordan to Grant Hill to Penny Hardaway, he was expected to rival the greatness of his idols. As things have played out the last decade and a half, he has.
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However, there was a time, before he graced the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high school junior or had St. Vincent-St. Mary's games aired live on ESPN as a senior, when he never thought he'd reach any of those former greats' heights ... literally.
That's because a doctor once told an 11-year-old James he'd only grow to be 6-3, far shorter than the elite shooting guards and small forwards whose posters aligned the walls of his bedroom inside apartment he and his mother called home in his native Akron, Ohio.
James, who now stands at least 6-8 and weighs in at 250 or more pounds, relayed the story to Cleveland.com before the Cavs prepared to take on the Bulls Saturday night.
"My dreams are shattered.' That's how it made me feel," James told Cleveland.com.
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No doubt, James, who is as mentally gifted as he is physically, would've still been a great player, but who knows how his game would've developed had he been five inches shorter?
Read Haynes' article in its entirety here for the rest of this little-known tale from James' childhood.