The most memorable image of the LeBron James era of the Miami Heat turns nine years old on Friday.
Although Friday night is a highlight anticipated night for lovers of the 2003 NBA Draft as LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony are set to face off against each other later tonight in Portland, December 6 was already a big day in the history of that draft class and the NBA’s Banana Boaters.
Friday marked the nine-year anniversary of the iconic photo of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade from LeBron’s first season of four in Miami. The photo was taken from a regular season game in Milwaukee but it is hard to beat as the best sports photograph of the decade by Associated Press photographer Morry Gash.
The Heat reached higher heights throughout the LeBron era, winning two championships over four years and four NBA Finals appearances. Wade and James are still close to this day, even though Wade retired from the NBA at the end of last season. Wade recently moved with his family to Los Angeles where his eldest son Zaire is playing high school basketball at Sierra Canyon with LeBron’s eldest son, Bronny Jr.
The 20 players drafted after LeBron James in 2003 provided some stars and some total busts.
The Cleveland Cavaliers drafted LeBron James with the first pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. King James has dominated the NBA in his career, winning four MVP awards and three championships in his first 17 seasons, while he’s currently off to his best start ever as his Los Angeles Lakers are 19-3 after 22 games. But how did the players selected after he was chosen fare in their NBA careers?
2. Darko Milicic
NBAE Photo by D.Lippitt/Einstein/NBAE via Getty Images
Darko Milicic was chosen by the Detroit Pistons with a pick they acquired via the Vancouver Grizzlies in a trade for Otis Thorpe. Of the top five draft picks from 2003, he was the lone one to fail to become a mega-star in his NBA career. The 7-footer played for six teams and averaged six points and four per game rebounds in 468 games. Milicic now lives the farmer’s life in his native Serbia.
Basketball photographer Cassy Athena captured a beautiful side-by-side of LeBron James and his eldest son looking similar as they dunk.
Tuesday night was a huge basketball night in the James Family household as LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers notched their best win of the young season against the Denver Nuggets before Bronny James Jr. made his first career high school start and his home debut for the Sierra Canyon Trail Blazers.
Reports from the scene at Sierra Canyon depicted a Beatlemania-type atmosphere, with a sellout crowd and media outlets from all over the country in attendance for freshman James’ first start. But one photographer captured the essence of why so many are gravitating to Bronny’s first high school season.
Basketball photographer Cassy Athena took a pair of her photos of Bronny and LeBron, with the similarities being as striking as could be side-by-side.
Bronny has a long way to go before getting to LeBron’s level on the court but the following and intrigue surrounding him are unlike anything his father at this point in his young career.
He won’t be expected to be a leader on his team this season, but he’s already showing some flashes that the apple doesn’t fall from the tree.
Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union will run their family how they please. And they seem to have their hearts set upon creating an open and accepting household. (As they should.)
Union shared she’s having a tough time after getting fired from America’s Got Talent, so she thanked her followers on Instagram for supporting her and sending her love. The photo showed Union, Wade, their daughter Kaavia James and Wade’s 12-year-old son Zion Malachi Airamis.
Somehow, Wade’s son took center stage. His outfit choice, which included long nails and a crop top, apparently made people uncomfortable on Twitter.
It’s absurd that social media users think they have a valuable opinion on Wade and Union’s parenting style. But that’s what social media has created: emboldened keyboard warriors. (Can you imagine someone walking up to Wade and Union in real life to tell them what their child should or should not be wearing? Of course not.)
Even though he shouldn’t have to, Wade addressed the negativity surrounding his fathering and his son with a series of thoughtful tweet.
I’ve seen some post-thanksgiving hate on social about my family photo. Stupidity is apart of this world we live in—so i get it. But here’s the thing—I’ve been chosen to lead my family not y’all. So we will continue to be us and support each other with pride, love & a smile! ✌🏾
His wife posted a photo to give thinks — it was a nice image of two parents and two children. They didn’t address the topic of discussion in the comments: the son’s outfit. Why would they? They support what he’s wearing — they didn’t even have to say it. Unfortunately when close-mindedness persisted in the public, Wade was forced to address it and he put together a beautiful display of fatherly love.
Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are three of the best Warriors ever.
As arguably the best backcourt ever, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson will go down as two of the best guards in NBA history.
Curry’s and Thompson’s greatness was recognized Monday by Zach Harper of The Athletic. Harper placed Curry and Thompson on The Athletic’s All-Decade team for the 2010s. Curry was picked as the lead guard for the first team, and Thompson was selected as a wing on the second team. Along with Curry and Thompson, Draymond Green earned honorable mention.
As three-time champions, Curry, Thompson and Green are arguably one of the best trios of all-time.
They’re up there with the 1980s Boston Celtics frontcourt of Kevin McHale, Larry Bird and Robert Parish; the Heatles that consisted of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh; the Celtics Big 3 of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen; the regularly competitive group of San Antonio Spurs legends Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.
Curry and Thompson are two of the best shooters ever, and both are ranked in the top five among active players for 3-point field goal percentage. Curry has shot 43.5% from the 3-point line for his career, and Thompson has shot 41.9%.
Green is one of the best defenders of this era, and he’s arguably the most valuable role player of this generation as well. It’s hard to say the Warriors would have been as feared had Green not been on the team.
With his facilitating and hustle, Green was one of the Warriors’ most important players during their run from 2014-2019.
As the decade comes to a close, the Warriors are no longer one of the league’s best teams. Next season, though, with Curry and Thompson presumably healthy, the Warriors should be competitive again.
D’Angelo Russell is off the sneaker market after signing a deal with Dwyane Wade’s Way of Wade Li-Ning brand.
It’s been a lucrative 2019 for D’Angelo Russell. The 23-year old All-Star signed a four-year, $117 million max contract with the Golden State Warriors over the summer, and now he’s got a shoe endorsement with a future Hall of Famer.
Retired 16-year NBA veteran, Dwyane Wade announced on his Twitter that he signed Russell to be his first signature athlete to his “Way of Wade” line with the Chinese sports brand, Li-Ning. Russell will join fellow NBA players, CJ McCollum and Evan Turner under the Li-Ning umbrella.
In an interview with Bleacher Report Kicks, Wade said it was a “no brainer” on picking the one time Ohio State Buckeye to be the new on-court face of his brand. “Flash,” said he’s excited to pass the Way of Wade torch to the Golden State guard.
I’m excited to announce I’ve just signed my first signature athlete – D’Angelo Russell. @Dloading is the perfect player & person to continue the work that I started with @WayofWade. @Dloading…here’s to making your own way. Thank you for believing in us! pic.twitter.com/fPKx51sDDp
Russell’s deal with Nike ended last Fall, since then he was seen wearing a bevy of different kick brands. Russell has been rocking Way of Wade’s for a majority of the 2019 season with Golden State before officially signing the dotted line on Thursday. There’s yet to be an announcement on if Russell will get his own signature shoe.
Marc Stein of the New York Times reported back in October that a deal between Russell and Li-Ning could be on the way.
Basketball development of a different sort from China: The Li-Ning brand Way of Wade has been pushing to close a lucrative deal with new Warriors guard D'Angelo Russell to make Russell a brand ambassador, according to industry sources
Russell will be the fourth member of the Dubs to be represented by a shoe brand headquartered in China. Klay Thompson, Kevon Looney and Jacob Evans III are all sponsored by Anta, with Thompson repping his latest signature shoe from the brand, the KT 5s.
Russell is currently dealing with a right thumb sprain, but wearing Li-Ning’s might be a good luck charm for the fifth-year pro. In November, the point guard is averaging 29.7 points and 7.2 assists while shooting 48.4 percent from the field. With Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson sidelined for the significant future, Russell has a chance to be the on-court face of not only the Way of Wade brand, but the Golden State Warriors as well.
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade had the Miami Heat from 2010 until 2014. Now, their sons LeBron James Jr. and Zaire Wade have Sierra Canyon.
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LeBron James and Dwyane Wade had the Miami Heat from 2010 until 2014. Now, their sons LeBron James Jr. and Zaire Wade have Sierra Canyon.
The younger generation of the NBA champions will team up to create a powerhouse high school in Southern California. They will have 15 games broadcasted on ESPN during their first season together as high school stars.
As the spotlight shines on these basketball stars with a constant buzz on television and social media, the high school team is given a pro-feel to its coverage. That means there is already an over-under set for how many points per game James will score as a freshman.
Somehow, via BetOnline, that means you can actually put your hard-earned money on the scoring averages of a 15-year-old basketball player.
All of the Bronny James/Sierra Canyon props you've ever wanted via BetOnline. Sierra Canyon plays tonight at 8 p.m. pacific on ESPN 3. pic.twitter.com/dRXEEvisbf
Considering this is his first year playing at the high school level and he will join a team contending for the state title, the odds are currently at a modest 10.5 points per game.
The over-under for Wade, who is an incoming senior for Sierra Canyon, is 14.5 points per game. Wade averaged 7.7 points per game for his AAU team on the D1 circuit in the Nike EYBL competition.
James and Wade will also be joined by five-star senior shooting guard BJ Boston (Kentucky), four-star senior power forward Terren Frank (TCU), five-star senior small forward Ziaire Williams and five-star sophomore shooting guard Amari Bailey.
Their odds to win the state championship are -300, giving them an implied probability of 75 percent to take home the open division title. They have also won the state title in 2015, 2018 and 2019.
L.A. Lakers star LeBron James is leading the NBA in assists and Anthony Davis is receiving more passes than any of his previous teammates.
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It might seem obvious considering that he’s leading the NBA in assists for the first time in his historic 17-year career, but LeBron James is passing the ball more than he has before in his career. And to add to that, nobody in LeBron’s history of past teammates received more passes on a nightly basis than Anthony Davis currently does next to The King.
Obviously, it’s still early in the season, so this could change slightly but Davis looks well on his way to surpassing Kyrie Irving’s high mark of 22.3 passes per 36 minutes in 2015-16.
If things continue going the way they are, even Kyle Kuzma could pass Irving’s high mark as well. Davis has been a well of assists for LeBron and that doesn’t figure to change anytime soon, but there are also a couple of other aspects at play when looking at this passing increase.
First of all, LeBron is playing point guard more than he ever has because of injuries and the Lakers general lack of point guard depth. Second, the pace of play (possessions per game) has been steadily increasing over the last five years which of course leads to a higher volume of shots and passes.
Still, the stat that Kalbrosky dug into indicates a big reason why LeBron is leading the NBA assists. Even though Davis hasn’t been his normally efficient self, he won’t be short on opportunities as long as he and LeBron stay on the court.
It didn’t take long for LeBron James and Anthony Davis to develop chemistry and get on the same page, and the numbers back that up.
After a disappointing first year on the Los Angeles Lakers for LeBron James, his team is off to a very impressive start so far this season.
Whether it is because he played the first 10 games of the season without point guard Rajon Rondo or because James has decided to run the offense through new superstar teammate Anthony Davis, James’ assist numbers are now at an all-time high.
James leads the league with 11.2 assists per game and an assist percentage of 52.4 percent. One of the reasons is that he is simply passing the ball far more often.
James has made 68.3 passes per game, the third-most in the NBA behind only Luka Doncic (70.6) and Ben Simmons (69.6) thus far. It’s significantly more passes than any of his other seasons since the statistics were made publicly available in 2013-14.
According to the available tracking data, 23.4 percent of his passes have been to Davis. James has averaged 2.5 assists per game to Davis, establishing a far better rhythm than any he has ever had with a big man.
Brian Windhorst recently wrote about the immediate chemistry that the two stars have displayed (via ESPN):
“Through their first nine games, James had assisted Davis on 26 baskets, 10 more than any other teammate, per ESPN Stats & Information research. Compare that to his first nine games with [Chris] Bosh, when it was 17 assists, and his first nine with [Kevin] Love, which produced only 11. Their pick-and-rolls have resulted in the highlight dunks that fans love and a schematic nightmare for opposing coaches. And even though they sometimes are caught a little out of position, there’s a natural flow that’s easy to see.”
Now after more than a dozen regular-season games together, the tracking data indicates that James has targeted Davis more often than any of his other teammates since 2013-14.
When dividing the minutes they have shared the court by 36, James is averaging more than 25 passes to Davis. That is the most since he averaged 22.3 passes per 36 shared to Kyrie Irving during their 2015-16 campaign, which ultimately resulted in an NBA championship.
For perspective: James averaged 16.9 passes per 36 minutes shared to Kevin Love during his final season in Cleveland and just 12.6 passes per 36 minutes shared to Dwyane Wade during his last year in Miami.
It is also worth noting that given how many more passes per game James is averaging overall this year, James is still able to find other teammates beyond Davis at a remarkably high rate as well.
While it is still a smaller sample size as he missed time to start the season due to injury, Kyle Kuzma has received 2.1 assists per game from James and that is without the forward even being in the starting unit with the four-time NBA MVP.
The new mindset for James is evident in more than just the eye test, showing his willingness to defer. The stats back up exactly how much of a playmaker he has been for Los Angeles thus far.
Count NBA legend and future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade among those to marvel at the scoring exploits of Houston Rockets star James Harden.
Count NBA legend and future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade among those to marvel at the continued scoring exploits of Houston Rockets superstar James Harden.
After a 49-point outburst in Saturday’s win at Minnesota, the 30-year-old commonly known as “The Beard” is now averaging 39.5 points this season, along with 7.8 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game.
Most impressively, there’s nothing empty about the numbers, since they’re contributing to victories by his team. The Rockets (10-3) have won seven straight games and are just a half-game back of the Los Angeles Lakers (10-2) for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
During the streak, Harden is averaging 43.0 points on 44.9% shooting and 41.4% on three-pointers, along with 7.9 assists, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.3 steals per game. In turn, that begs the question: Could the former Most Valuable Player (MVP) make a run at averaging 40 points?
At the moment, Harden’s scoring average in the 2019-20 season is the highest by any NBA player in the last 56 seasons. The only player to have broken the 40-point barrier is Hall of Fame center Wilt Chamberlain, who did it twice in the 1961-62 and 1962-63 seasons.
Wade’s praise is also noteworthy because he’s one of the game’s historic greats at Harden’s position. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Wade are widely considered to be at the top of the all-time list for elite NBA shooting guards, and it speaks well to Harden’s current run that a member of that group is showing his appreciation.
Harden has also provided value on defense, where Houston has gone from the league’s second-worst unit in net rating during its 3-3 start to the No. 2 defense over its current seven-game winning streak.
James Harden is averaging 43.0 points during the Rockets' 7-game win streak. That stat probably doesn't surprise you. This one might: The Rockets are allowing only 95.9 points/100 possessions with Harden on the floor during this run.
It’s possible that Harden’s raw numbers could eventually come down. His 49 points on Saturday came on 41 shots, largely because co-star Russell Westbrook did not play due to planned maintenance on the second half of a back-to-back. And even when Westbrook has played during Houston’s current streak, he’s been in a shooting slump with averages of just 40% from the field and 18.5% on three-pointers.
Once Westbrook returns, and especially if or when his shooting returns to normal levels (for his career, Westbrook is a 43.4% overall shooter and 30.6% from three-point range), that could slightly reduce Harden’s shot attempts and total numbers.
"It was a collective effort" – @JHarden13 after the #Rockets 125-105 win over Minnesota. "We can't take any game for granted"
But for now, even with Westbrook out or slumping, the Rockets are still winning games at a 63-win pace — and Harden’s ability to take on an even higher workload than usual has a lot to do with it. It’s only appropriate that all-time greats, such as Wade, have taken notice.
