In February of 2002, a then teenage LeBron James graced the cover of Sports Illustrated for the first time with the title of the magazine reading “The Chosen One.” The lede of the feature on James, penned by the late, great Grant Wahl read as follows:
Ahead of His Class:
Ohio High School Junior LeBron James Is So Good That He’s Already Being Mentioned As the Heir To Michael Jordan.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past two decades, LeBron has more than lived up to those lofty expectations.