[Bleacher Report] 2026 NBA Draft prospects talk about their first LeBron James memory
The comment section for this post is just going to be variations of “oh boy am I old”
The earliest memory any of them had was him on the heat. We are old
I was in grade school when I first watched him, and that wasn’t even when he was drafted, I didn’t even know what basketball was when Lebron was drafted. Now I have almost 10 years of work and he’s still in the NBA
That’s just you tbh✌️
You’ll get there one day kid. Wait til there’s dudes in the league that were in diapers when Luka was drafted
Luka being called unc/eventually retiring is when I will start feeling old since he was born the same year I was
Same bro. I’m 27 and I’m feeling it slowly. Realizing that some of these rookies are almost a decade younger is crazy.
I like seeing players who are sons of guys I watched back in the day. Curry, Payton, Hardaway Jr, Pippen Jr, Stojakovic coming in soon. You getting old when you see 2 generations pass through the NBA.
the kid talking about hearing iguodala block on the radio is going to fuck them up
Kingston Fleming. He’s my fav outside the top 4 guys.
Me too, seems like he might fall to us— hoping he does
Everyone says nets shouldn’t take another PG but I say fuck it. I think the clippers will take him though
Whoever takes him will get a winner. Houston doesn’t recruit talent, they recruit character. The talent just comes with it. Kingston is such a good dude, and he’s also really fucking good at basketball.
Watching him in person gave me shades of Ja Morant or young Westbrook. Just the straight speed and athleticism is crazy
the only people saying the nets shouldnt take another pg are people who know nothing about the nets
I remember when I was a freshman in high school. My Pistons had the #2 pick and I was hoping the Cavs were dumb enough to pass on Bron. Now my kid is finishing up her freshman year of high school and Bron is still going. Oh boy I guess I’m old.
yea, i can see it now: 1. Melo (Cavs) 2. Darko (Pistons) 3. LeBron (Denver). it would have changed the whole leagues trajectory.
Oh Lord that would have been a problem. LeBron, Billups, Sheed and Ben would have absolutely sonned the rest of the league.
Oh boy am I old
What about the commenters first Michael Jordan memory?
Ironically, this made me feel younger lol. Bc my oldest memories of him are also on the Heat. But I’m a few years out of undergrad, so I suppose not too much older than these guys.
I already feel old enough seeing players born in 2006 like Cooper Flagg being drafted or Harrison Barnes being called “Unc” despite being 33 (we’re the same age).
Bro I’m 24 and this makes me feel so old. I can still remember his first cavs stint in the late 2000’s. Insane that people entering the league didn’t witness that
Carlos Boozer’s son being the one person who doesn’t answer with a specific LeBron highlight, moment, game or era is hilarious
Raised him to hate I bet lmao 😂
They were teammates his rookie season
I know man, and he was a hater then too along with Darius miles I think? Shit was hilarious the interviews they had with the 02 Cavs players
Yea I think Boozer Sr. said something along the lines of “we already have better players at his position”.
His tone changed after the first Cavs practice where LeBron torched everyone lol
They were teammates on the 2008 Olympic team after Cameron Boozer was born, although that’s too young though for Boozer to remember.
At first I was dumbfounded but then realized these guys are 18-22 years old, so yea late Miami LeBron and 2nd stint Cavs would be their childhood smh lol
Some of these guys were still in diapers when Lebron made the decision in summer of ‘10 lol
Yeah these dudes were like 8-9 years old during the 2016 finals… crazy how all of them wouldn’t have any memories of first stint cavs LeBron and none of them were even born when he was drafted…
Darryn Peterson was 9 when Bron came back 3-1. Also meaning he was 8 when that one dude made the “fuckery” tweet.
That makes me feel so old. I was in high school when LeBron made the decision then halfway through college when he left Miami.
alright bruh you can’t be saying MJ is the GOAT when your first memory of basketball is 2016 warriors
What’s the cutoff where you’re suddenly not allowed to think Jordan is the GOAT anymore?
if you think stephen a playing solitaire instead of the game and giving analysis based on stat sheet is ridiculous, then that’s the cutoff
Them having an opinion on it is fine but the funny thing are the kids like this that will argue vehemently for one over the other when they didn’t see either at their peak.
My pet theory has always been that if Kareem had different politics the GOAT conversation would be MJ, Bron, or Kareem but I wasn’t alive while KAJ was still playing. I’ve seen Jordan and Bron live so I will defend the youth on having an opinion on Jordan without seeing him play. I may not have seen it but I know KAJ was that good
on previous drafts, we used to get PG and Curry. this is ridiculous lol
So baseball fans can’t say Babe Ruth is the goat since they didn’t watch him live?
Babe Ruth played with roided-up plumbers and milk men.
Put him in today’s league with drug regulation and he dies of a heart attack.
Babe’s not the goat so jot that down smh
no. MJ said it
What are you on?
MJ said there’s no GOAT because it’s era dependent
and, as witnessed, it leads to ridiculousness like a kid born in 2016 saying Babe Ruth is the goat. MJ goat argument is slightly valid because people who witnessed him and watched him live are on TV so they’re basically 1v1 ing him
Humble goat
Like a lil baby goat
What a ridiculous argument, you’re literally saying people HAVE to say anyone in their current era is the GOAT and no one else
yes saying to drop down to level of stephen a smith and at least watch the games and be there is a ridiculous argument. insanity
Why not? He didn’t see either of their full careers. And nobody has started and ended their career since 2016 in the GOAT convo so then he’s just not allowed to have a GOAT or anything?
who is the greatest player he has witnessed. it has to be Lebron, Curry or Giannis or Klaw for many. that would be the goat. that’s basically how old heads on TV like Skip, SAS, etc. are arriving with MJ vs Bron. they witnessed em both. live
“Of all time”
Why not? With the power of the Internet, anyone can both watch old games, and see that MJ had a 7-season peak of being a 6x champ, 6x FMVP, 6x first team all NBA, and 4x MVP.
With the power of the Internet, anyone can both watch old games
You know damn well ain’t nobody watching a hundred in plus hours of random ass regular season games, they are watching highlight reels.
I mean it’s just the truth. Kid knows ball
I don’t appreciate how this video makes me feel.
I hate it in fact
Tingly in your pants too?
Redditors when time passes: 😮
I’m 32 and I understand I’m 13 years older than most of these guys. So yes, these are okay. But kids go back and watch Cavs bron to really appreciate heat bron.
Especially that playoff game vs Detroit. Forget which one it was omg
The game where he scored all the points for the Cavs in the last 6-7 minutes in regulation, and then all of the points in OT? That was my first time truly appreciating his greatness.
He also had so many game winners in the playoffs. Buzzer beaters vs wizards and magic ring a bell to me as a Cavs. First time around. Just knowing the story of what he went through to just seeing him dominate as a heat is just so short sighted.
2007 run Bron specifically
Specifically, his first stint with the Cavs.
lol we watched his high school games at st Mary’s st Vincent
LIVE!
we old bruh lol
LIVE! I remember watching his game on ESPN with my dad!
My first Bron memory is watching that huge televised highschool game on ESPN. I definitely think of the block and even Miami as recent, but I just realized these dudes were like 8 when that happened lmao.
His career throws everything out of perspective. It’s gonna be so dope watching it from start to finish. I will officially become unc when bron retires.
Surprised nobody said kobe is the goat at the end of the video
They missed out on Kobe’s prime, they grew up with post Achilles Kobe
Plus, he not
I agree
They miss out on Jordan’s prime too 😂
Well yea obviously, but with respect to Kobe, Jordan is Jordan.
Not to younga folks cuz
To be fair, most of them were 9-10 years old when Kobe retired.
I’ve never heard Wade mentioned last when bringing up the Heatles
old heads hate to see that the younger generation is more team bron than team mj
The big Takeaway here is that I’m fucking old
As I was going into 8th grade i spent all summer hooping in his cavs jersey…he wouldn’t make his nba debut until 3 months later :(
I still remember my highschool going over the loud speaker to announce LeBron James will be heading to the NBA draft and to wish him luck. Why they did this? I’ll never know, we weren’t even in Ohio.
So cool getting older now I see these guys as little kids lol they used to seem so grown up
As a 36 year old, it’s probably 2 things:
The SI cover and playing vs Melo on TV.
I remember the game because a family friend was over who I didn’t see much. Didn’t realize he was a big hoops head until he was saying how we gotta put this game on to watch these 2 kids go against each other.
First memory of lebron in 2016 when he was 32…god I’m old
Not my first memory but my first oh shit LeBron memory was when he hit that behind the back pull up three against the Pistons in the playoffs.
Mario Chalmers mentioned 🥹
“yeah watching him in the heat with bosh, chalmers……………………………………………….. ^and ^dwade”
Some people just got locked in with Rio lol
My first LeBron moment would be 2007 Finals. Not a specific moment but the just finals in general
This is george mikan erasure
First person I ever searched Google and then Google Images at the school computer to see pics of playing HS ball.
RemindMe! June 24, 2026
Watched LeBrons first nba game on tv vs Sacramento. He pretty much did everything, almost a triple double plus some steals and blocks if i remember correctly. He didn’t look like a rookie at all. You kinda know he’s gonna dominate for a long time but didn’t expect him to still be top 20 players in the league 20 something years later. Sheesh.
I remember watching Lebron play on ESPN his senior year of High school. I was in 7th grade then. Also remember the jersey and hummer scandals. This guy has been feeding ESPN nonstop since before he entered the league.
Insane lol
When he averaged less PPG in the finals than Jason Terry
So second one was ending your 3-MVP team?
Neither were MVP at that time so it’s an irrelevant observation. All 3 were losing players when bus riders anyway.
Enjoy the lottery!
Mvp is mvp. Nobody wins the mvp and then is a regular good player during other points of their prime
They weren’t MVPs in 2012. Argument invalid. Be better
I loved the team so much, it made me sad. Was rooting for yall against Dallas too.
And I will, thank you! Having two firsts this year is actually pretty awesome considering how much better we got. And 3 next year!
Pretti want some more picks for an I-hart S&T?