No other sports icon has put his city on the map quite like LeBron James has for Akron, Ohio.

Ever since ‘The King' entered the spotlight early in his high school days in St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, James has put his city on his sleeve and has almost single-handedly made Akron a household name across the globe. At 35, James once again finds himself at the top of basketball's Mt. Rushmore as he claimed his fourth NBA ring with the Los Angeles Lakers.

With his immense talent and impact both on and off the floor, it's no question that LeBron James has paved the way for young athletes to start their own journey to success. Now, it seems that another young kind from Akron is slowly carving his own path to greatness.

His name? Chris Livingston.

Livingston has been flooded with LeBron James comparisons ever since his very first mixtape came out back when he was a fifth grader. Given that the Akron-native hails from the same city of ‘The King', nicknames like ‘The Next LeBron' was nearly automatic but just watching Livingston play makes it seem that the comparison isn't just based on geography. The 16-year old is a versatile guard-forward that can basically do anything on the court. Livingston is in the top of the class of 2022 and at 6'6″ with insane athletic ability, he is clearly in a class above his peers.

A year after his first mixtape went viral and elicited the LeBron James comparisons, Livingston made his first dunk during an AAU game in Las Vegas – in sixth grade.

LeBron James might be aware that as a freshman for Buchtel Community Learning Center in Akron, Livingston had a monster average of 24.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. He then moved to Western Reserve Academy in Ohio for his sophomore year where his progress and development would continue to skyrocket. In his last outing in his sophomore year in Western Reserve, Livingston erupted for 50 points, 20 rebounds, eight steals and five blocks.

He's also already had an international stint under his belt; he was part of the gold medal team the US put out at the FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship. In a display which would have made LeBron James proud, Livingston didn't show any signs of international stage jitters as he was named the MVP of that tournament.

Now do you believe the hype?

LeBron James surely does. He first met the prodigy in 2018 when James popped in to one of Livingston's AAU games at the Fab 48 tournament in Las Vegas. James was clearly impressed with the young athlete and even went as far as calling him ‘young king' when highlights of Livingston's performance on his Instagram account. And apparently, the two have been exchanging messages ever since.

Livingston would need all the wisdom he could possibly squeeze out from a mentor-figure like LeBron James, given that he's been receiving a ton of college offers with still a couple more years to go before he graduates high school. And with the recent influx of high school prospects going straight into the NBA's G-League, surely, the 16-year old will have more than just college in sight in a couple year's time.

Though everything is still quite uncertain now with the young man's career, one thing's for sure – Livingston is locked in and is determined to be not just the next kid from Akron following LeBron James' footsteps.

Watch out world, Chris Livingston got next. Remember the name.