NBA superstar LeBron James did a lot of great things for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He took that franchise to heights it had never seen before and put more optics on the metropolis than had always been on information technology before. Withal, before going to the Cavs in the 2003 NBA typhoon, LeBron James actually cost the team quite a flake of money as a loftier school player. This wasn't all his fault, but the Cavs ultimately had to fork over $150,000.

LeBron James was an unreal high school player in Ohio

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What helped form LeBron James' bond with the metropolis of Cleveland and the state of Ohio was the fact that he was from in that location. James was a loftier school basketball star at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio.

He was potentially the most hyped high school star of all-time, too. James led his team to iii state championships and a national championship, according to the school's site. People frequently filed into high school arenas to watch him play, besides, and he was even on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a junior.

LeBron James was ultimately so good in loftier school that he skipped college and went straight to the NBA, equally the Cleveland Cavaliers selected him No. 1 overall in the 2003 NBA typhoon. However, James and the Cavs started working with each other well before the typhoon.

LeBron James toll the Cavs $150,000 while still in high school

LeBron James playing for St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.
LeBron James of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School during the Ohio Land Championship Game on March 23, 2002. | Stephen Albanese/Michael Ochs Athenaeum/Getty Images

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The Cleveland Cavaliers were really bad in 2002-03. One-time caput coach John Lucas even accused the franchise of tanking to ensure a better hazard of drafting James in the 2003 draft, according to ESPN. The Cavaliers ended up going 17-65 and fired Lucas later on he went viii-34 as head coach.

Whether they were tanking or not, though, the Cavaliers clearly had their eyes on James, which concluded up costing them. Co-ordinate to The Washington Mail service, before the 2002-03 season, the NBA fined the Cavaliers $150,000 and suspended Lucas for the first ii games after the squad allowed James, a loftier schoolhouse inferior in the surface area, to participate in a voluntary workout, along with college players and free agents.

The league said that Lucas violated "league rules prohibiting contact between NBA teams and players not notwithstanding eligible for the NBA Draft," per The Washington Post.

James likewise played on a team of Cavs players during the workout, and he apparently put on a testify.

"He was the all-time player in the gym that day, on my team," Lucas later said in 2020, according to The Able-bodied. "Ricky Davis, Chris Mihm, DeSagana Diop, all of our players, he was the best player there."

Although LeBron James' workout cost the Cavs $150,000, he paid information technology back to them and so some with his play on the court.

LeBron James fabricated $169.viii million with the Cavs and won a title

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The Cavs ultimately paid a lot more for LeBron James to be on their squad in the years that followed. Co-ordinate to Spotrac, James fabricated over an estimated $169.eight million in 11 seasons with the Cavaliers.

After going to the Cavs with the No. 1 overall pick, James scored over 31 points per game and led Cleveland to the playoffs in his tertiary season, and then carried the team to the NBA Finals in his fourth season in 2006-07. Information technology was the franchise's first-ever trip to the Finals. James also led them to 66 and 61 wins in 2008-09 and 2009-10 before going to the Miami Heat for four seasons starting in 2010-11.

James and so made four sequent NBA Finals appearances with the Heat and won two championships. This came before he somewhen made four more straight appearances dorsum with the Cavs from 2014-fifteen through 2017-18. LeBron James too ultimately led the Cavs to an NBA championship in 2015-16.

James has since moved to the LA Lakers, only in eleven seasons with the Cavs, he scored 23,119 points, earned 10 All-Star selections, won 2 NBA MVP awards, and played in the NBA Finals five times. That workout was most likely worth it for the Cavaliers.

Overall in his career, James is a 17-time NBA All-Star and a four-time NBA MVP. His is also a four-fourth dimension NBA Finals MVP, equally he has won 4 full championships. Additionally, James is tertiary in NBA history in points and 8th in assists.

The Cavs and the unabridged NBA knew that LeBron James would be special while he was still in high school. He has ultimately lived up to that hype, too.

Stats courtesy of Basketball Reference