Black Press International |

Date: Feature Week of February 11, 2003
Topic: Black Press Business/Economic
Author: William Reed
Article ID: article_ema021103a

DON'T HATE THE PLAYER - HATE THE GAME!
The King James Version Of Being Played

Have you heard the one about the 18-year-old high school basketball player who drives Akron, Ohio streets in a 2003 Hummer H2 outfitted with three TVs, embroidered seats and computer hookups? Referred to as "King James" by locals, LaBron James received the Hummer as a birthday present from his unemployed mother, Gloria James, who bought the $75,000 vehicle with a loan from Bank One. The gift of the Hummer and two jerseys (valued at $800) provoked investigations by the Ohio High School Athletic Association to determine if Ohio high schools' Athlete of the Year "risked his amateur status by accepting these gifts".

"Amateur status" is not a label LaBron James will wear for long. James is on the fast track to just being called "rich". Only three out of 10,000 high school basketball players make it directly to the NBA, but with teams like Cleveland, Golden State, Chicago and Denver all figuring to have a shot at getting the high school All-American, Bank One's bank loan to Gloria James stands on some pretty sturdy legs. If he tells the NBA that he's turning pro 45 days before the draft, James has a virtual lock on being the first pick in the June 26th NBA draft. Because rookie salaries are set by a collective bargaining agreement, a three-year contract worth about $11 million awaits James and his single-mom.

That James' final season could end with state authorities questioning his eligibility is fitting because over the past three seasons his school has profited handsomely from his prodigious basketball talents while he was not allowed to receive a cent. To his school - St. Vincent-St. Mary - King James isn't a high school athlete as much as he is an entertainment spectacle. Since James has been in St. Vincent-St. Mary Irish uniform, school authorities have arranged coast-to-coast national tours that included big-arena games against top teams with coverage by regional pay-per-view TV channels. The school gets $10,000 - $15,000 a game plus travel expenses. James' high school administrators turned him into a traveling boy band of one, star who commands appearance fees and puts hundreds of thousands of butts into seats. Due to James, the nation's top-ranked high school team has won the past two Division III state championships and garnered more money than many college programs. The Irish make big money playing in college arenas, on ESPN and via pay-per-view cable. If James broke amateur rules by "capitalizing on his athletic fame to receive gifts of monetary value," the school did so a thousand times before James did.
The public shouldn't hate James as much as they should the game that's played on him and thousands of other Black youngsters. Black hoop stars make billions for collage athletic programs every year. Isn't accepting a four-year college athletic scholarship ˜ which is a gift that can have a monetary value of more than $100,000 ˜ capitalizing on athletic fame?

In a matter of months, LaBron James will be able to park additional vehicles at his soon-to-be multi-million dollar residence. In addition to his NBA salary, James is expected to sign a $25 million sneaker contract. For the past year, he's been romanced by Michael Jordan, lord of sneaker giant - Nike. Jordan has flown with James, via private jet, to Oregon to go one-on-one with Nike CEO Phil Knight.

One in a million basketball players possess abilities the caliber of Jordan and James. Meanwhile, of a quarter of a million teens playing high school sports less than one percent will get scholarships to a Division One school. For those who want to make a James-like jump, this year the NBA has started the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) for teens not ready to play in the NBA but who want to pursue a professional career. The league has an age limit of 20 years old, so if a high school player enters the NBA draft and doesn't get picked, he's eligible to play for $30,000 a season minimum in the NBDL.

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