LeBron James will play in his 17th NBA All-Star Game this year. The 36-year-old star remembered his first All-Star Weekend 18 years ago during his rookie year. While he did not make it to the All-Star Game that season, he took part in the Rookie Challenge.
“It was incredible,” James said. “First of all, I’m a kid from Akron, Ohio and I was in Los Angeles for my first All-Star Game. That was an incredible moment for myself, for my family to be here.
Obviously, I wanted to be in the All-Star Game. Still kind of irks me a little bit. But I got over it. It’s just being here and being around Melo [Carmelo Anthony] and D-Wade [Dwyane Wade] and the rest of the guys.
“Just being part of the festivities something I watched my whole life. I was like ‘Wow, how great it’d be to be a part of All-Star Weekend.’ For it to be my rookie year and for me to be in the Rookie Challenge it is something that I’ll probably never forget. I got an opportunity to wear some dope shoes that night too, the Zoom Generation 1 Wheats. That’s one of my favorite sneakers of all time. I was just hyped. It’s a long time ago.”
The game took place at Staples Center, the current home court of LeBron. He was a member of the Rookies team which lost to the Sophomores 118-142. James was the top scorer for the Rookies with 33 points.