Lakers news: LeBron James reacts to resurfaced high school photos

Lakers star LeBron James retweeted a series of photos during his high school days when he considered himself a "Young King."

Back in 2002, Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James was a 17-year-old basketball prodigy for the Fighting Irish. James retweeted a series of photos during those days when he considered himself a “Young King.”

Take a look at a young LeBron James below in what looks like a photo shoot for a magazine. At the tender age of 17, James was already making waves among the amateur basketball ranks. It's difficult to imagine that around a year after these photos were taken, James would be selected first overall in the 2003 NBA Draft.

#YoungKing🤴🏾 https://t.co/Bk2A2qA6ER

— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 1, 2021

For those who have been following James' career since day one, they all know that he was dubbed as the “Chosen One” by Sports Illustrated. They even put James on the cover of the magazine, which immediately boosted his stock. In an interview in 2017, Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl admitted that he had apprehensions about placing James on their front cover.

“I was worried,” Wahl said, per Jesse Washington of the Undefeated. “that we were going to ruin the kid’s life by putting him on the cover. It’s one thing to do a feature on somebody inside the mag. But when you put a young kid on the cover and proclaim him ‘The Chosen One’ – maybe ‘ruin his life’ is a little strong, but it took things to such a level that I felt like his life was not going to be the same after that. The pressure would get a lot higher.”

But as we all know by now, James answered all the questions if he was indeed the next big thing. 18 years in and he's considered the greatest of all time by a legion of NBA fans.