hearings. that's it for us. we'll be back here next week. next, msnbc headliners takes on lebron james. but for now, good night from washington. hello. i'm lester holt. basketball legends often start out in local gyms like this. that was the case with 10-year-old lebron james in akron, ohio. when lebron's remarkable streak of 13 straight nba playoff appearances ended in 2019, he's reached new heights off the court. in this headliners, the extraordinary king james. he's been a human highlight reel since high school. >> 18-year-old basketball phenom lebron james is going to the nba. >> a superstar from the start. and then slammed for making a

controversial decision on live tv. >> he broke up with the city on live tv and everybody hated his guts for it. >> this is what i do to lebron. >> redeemed by greatness. >> if we failed, it was going to be his fault. >> he is at his best when everything is on the line. >> lebron james is not only basketball's reigning superstar, he is within of the world's most influential and joutd spoken athletes. >> you call somebody a bum and it's the president of the united states? that's just -- >> he is savvy and smart and will attack when his moment comes. he is decades since an athlete of extraordinary talent had so much power and influence outside

their sport. lnls has built a social media following, more than 60 million strong to share his views. >> i use my voice right now through soebl media. something goes wrong i feel like is important i speak upon it. >> he speaks truth to power in a way we haven't seen since 1960s. >> i think lebron recognizing the social impact of mohammed ali and strives to be a great athlete and to be that impact. >> i was around the community that was like our vote doesn't matter. but it really does. it really, really does. >> you can say you don't like lebron's political beliefs. you recall watch him anyway. you will watch him because he's just that good. >> sense he entered the league in 2003, lebron james has been one of the nba's most dominant players. >> he was built in a lab. i think he's the most unique physical talent that's been seen

in the nba. >> four mvp awards, eight straight finals, three cloopss. after 16 seasons, he's still electrifying crowds as he did in the october 2018 debut for his newest nba team. >> james to the bucket! >> lebron james has been changing the game and the business of basketball since he was a rookie. >> if you believe the hype the future of the nba relies on a single man known by a single name. lebron. >> extremely gifted athletically and an awareness of everything around him and you have the type of human that you don't come across vur often. >> to understand his remarkable journey we must understand where it all began. akron, ohio. >> the story of him rising from that childhood is every bit as impressive and amazing as what's happened in his basketball

career. >> when gloria james gave birth to her son in late december 1984, she was 16 years old. his father was never part of their family. just three years later, gloria lost the only help she had. >> her mother died young. lebron was only 3 years old. >> reporter brian win hors covered lebron for 20 years. >> the stability was wrecked when his grandmother died and they were essentially homeless or on the edge of homeless for a period of time. >> without that a place of their own, they stayed with friends. >> there was violence throughout his entire childhood. the project he lived for a time was underneath a bridge in akron where people routinely jumped off of. >> isolated poverty, lebron missed about 80 days of fourth grade. >> we didn't have a car. i didn't have stability. day-to-day i didn't know where i was living. it was a surprise when to me

when i woke up and i was going to school. it was just a lot of empty days, empty nights and just kind of a no future thought process. >> the following year, a local youth basketball coach frank walker invited lebron to live with his family. >> he lived with the coach to get back on track academic amly and give him some stability. it gave him a sense of family, how to carry himself. >> they taught lebron the value of routine. those folks helped shape lebron and he ended up living with them on and off for a period of several years. >> the walker family also nurtured lebron's passion for basketball. ly bron began playing organized hoops as a 10-year-old. willie mcgee was a childhood teammate and friend. >> we were wet behind the ears and some things he picked up naturally. left-hand layups. he understood who he played

with. he wanted everybody else to get reck okay in addition, as well. >> one of the reasons lebron really became an unselfish player was that he treasured playing with his friends. he was somebody who wasn't able to put down roots an enso the concept that he could play basketball with his friends and share with them became very important to him. >> at st. vincent st. mary high school in akron, lebron and teammates known as the fab five became local celebrities. lebron and friends turned the school's basketball team into a national powerhouse. >> what he did was see the game. his ability to throw the pass that nobody could see coming. his ability to set up the defender by baiting him. it's confidence in himself. you didn't see teenagers do stuff like this. >> i play like it's my last game because it might be my last game. you know? i have to give it play 110% and

help my team get the victory and please the crowd to keep coming back. >> the summer after his sophomore year, lebron attended a summer camp for elite high school players. >> i can remember him coming back and, you know, saying that i want to be on the cover of a magazine. >> soon that dream came true. and it wasn't just any magazine. it was the cover of the february 18th, 2002, "sports illustrated." >> when lebron was in high school the nba was obsessed with finding the next michael jordan and so when they called him the chosen one they were talking about the guy that's going to do for the nba what michael had done. >> he took off. he embraced it. you know? he started working harder. he really understood that this is an opportunity to change him and his family's life. he wanted to be the next michael jordan. >> like mike, he even wore the number 23. the demand to see lebron play

was so high that some games were moved to the university of akron and espn for the first time in the network's history televised high school basketball. >> espn is sending not just a broadcast team but dick vital to his games, all right? >> if he's half as good of what i heard about him he is going to be a special athlete. >> i remember going to his first nationally televised game. i covered it. check the birth certificate. no way this kid is only 17 years old. what really left me impressed was the fact that he was such a willing passer. it was very clear that it was important to him that the game wasn't all about him. >> if i pass the ball to my teammates they can finish, hilt the open shot or make the layup and goes both ways. >> people showing up thinking they see a guy overhyped but not only did he answer the bell he was awesome. >> coaches, agents, sneaker executives and tv producers all

wanted an audience with the teenage sensation. >> at least 20, 25 requests a day. we heard from the letterman show, leno. we would get requests from people wanting him to come and shoot with their kids at their child's bar mitsvah. it was just unbelievable. >> all under the watchful eye of lebron's mother gloria. >> as he was pulled in more and more differently directions, the motherly protection instincts kicked into high gear. this was her son's life. >> the teenager signed a lucrative deal with nike for tens of millions before graduating high school. at a postgame press conference, a reporter asked about the plans. >> he looked over at me and he said, well, patty, i think i have to get back to school. i have a lot of assignments to make up. he didn't have to do that but it was on his mind.

it was part of the plan. i'm going to finish. and my work will reflect who i am. coming up -- >> he broke up with the city on live tv and everybody hated his guts for it. no, no, no, no... only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ so recently my son's band was signed by a record label. a record deal? unbelievable. whenever we're about to get on a stage for a huge audience, i always give my dad like a facetime kinda moment before we do our thing. you see the crowd, you see the emotion. you know, he has that experience for the first time with me, and that's really important to me. i created a rockstar. (both laughing) (vo) the network more people rely on, gives you more like unlimited with apple music included, and iphone xr on us when you buy the latest iphone. that's verizon.

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first nba game. just minutes in, he showed the audience what all the hype was about. as seen on espn. >> there's the first james jam of his career. >> 18-year-old lebron james wowed them in the nba debut last night showing the signs of a superstar. >> but behind the scenes it was much more difficult. he was on the cleveland cavaliers team that was not very good. there was jealousy from the teammates and he didn't know how to stand up for himself. >> he was making more money on endorsements than the guys, even guys with ridges and all-star appearances and when there's an opportunity to set a pick on lebron, they set it in his chest. >> that season, the 6'8" teenage rookie not only learned to hold his own, he became the cavs leading scorer. despite his dominance, critics claimed he didn't measure up to the league's last true superstar michael jordan.

>> he was always being accused of passing the ball when michael would have shot it, not wanting the ball at the end of the game. >> people were frustrated when him because they thought he was a little too selfless. >> as crowds started to warm to james' style, in 2004, he made his international debut in his first of three olympics. then in 2007, after four seasons in the league, james pulled off his biggest feat yet. leading the lowly cavaliers all the way to the finals against the spurs. >> even with his game still maturing before us he was able to get cleveland to the finals with five dudes people couldn't name right now. >> they were swept in four games. but james continued the unlikely streak carrying the cavaliers deep into the playoffs for the next three seasons. despite his drive to win, the chosen one just couldn't bring a

title to cleveland. >> he had taken cleveland as far as he could take them. >> as james' contract expired at the end of the 2010 season, the basketball world fix yaiated one question. >> where will lebron james play next? >> free agents usually go to the team with the highest bid but 25-year-old james joined forces with two olympic teammates to form their own dream team, the big three as they would become known saw it as a path to a nba title. >> you didn't see free agents in the past be so confident about this is my life, i'm taking control here. >> as speculation on where james would go escalated -- >> 30 of me i would play for every team. >> -- news broke that james would announce his decision on live tv with proceeds from the special going to charity, james' inner circle believed it was a forward thinking player

empowering idea. >> big sports story across the world, lebron james will reveal his big decision in just a few hours. he has milked this opportunity to the max. >> on july 8th, 2010, some 13 million americans tuned in to the espn special dubbed "the decision." >> lebron, what's your decision? >> in this time i'm going to take my talents to south beach and join the miami beach. >> he broke up with the city on live tv and everybody hated his guts for it. >> cavaliers fans took it to heart. >> this is what i do to lebron. >> they had the legacy of the browns losing and the indians losing. they're a home grown product to feel so proud about was making them a joke all over again. >> no longer the hero or the savior, the chosen one. he was america's villain now. >> a villain with powerful allies. the day after the decision jamts

was in miami starring in a preseason pep rally with his new superteammates dwyane wade and chris bosh and appeared to be caught up in their own hype promising heat fans multiple championships. >> not three? not four? not five. not six. not seven. nope. >> so now not just lebron was hated but the whole miele heat team. >> when they played in cleveland 2010, cavs fans let lebron know how they felt. >> he didn't completely understand why there was such backlash and what he really couldn't figure out was why he was hated in places that had no skin in the game. booed in memphis and portland. >> it was a unique point in his career because lebron had never worn the black hat, never been

the villain. >> he changed his whole mind-set coming to the game of basketball. and it led to a dark place. >> it threw him off. it made him question himself. he didn't know who he was. >> despite james' unease, the talent rich heat plowed the way into the nba finals. >> when miami got to the nba finals that year in 2011 they looked by far like the best team. >> after taking the first game in the best of seven series the heat players were confident the championship was theirs. >> dwyane wade makes a big three point e in the corp.er and poses as michael jordan did once and lebron is throwing shadow punches at dwyane wade. >> it kind of reminds you of that opening pep rally in miami where it was a premature celebration. >> after losing game two, the heat rallied to win game three but after that, lost three

straight and fell to the underdog mavericks. >> the dallas mavericks beat the miami heat 105-95 to take their first nba title in franchise history. >> the heat didn't just lose that finals in 2011. they lost and lebron played terrible. he was the main reason why they lost the finals. and that was a very difficult pill to swallow. >> so many people that were happy lebron james was humiliated. a lot of people saw that as lebron come up pans for what he did to cleveland. >> lebron said the best thing that happened to him is losing to dallas because it forced him to look in the mirror and take stock of all the mistakes he made not just the decision but all of them and he had to decide how he was going to be a better player and a better person. coming up -- >> there were a lot of articles written about what a horrible decision it's going to ruin his career.

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singular purpose. to win a nba championship. but after the heat's devastating loss in that season's finals, 26-year-old james did some off season soul searching. >> he removed himself from the world for weeks to try to process just what went down. i mean, he was the pressure cooker from the moment he sat down from the decision to the moment he lost the finals. >> you can't live your life on someone else's path. >> he made some new decisions. not just about basketball, but about family. his high school sweetheart savannah and their two young boys. >> daddy! >> when lebron moved to miami, savannah did not come with him and did not bring the boys and he realized he needed to have his family with him full-time so he went to savannah and he said i want you to move to miami so by new year's eve second season

he proposed to her and been happily married ever since. >> in december of 2011, james and the heat jumped into the new season with renewed vigor. under the guidance of coach erik spoelstra and basketball legend pat riley, they dominated the opposition and in the spring of 2012, they were once again playing for the title. this time would be different for james. >> he would not read the internet. he would not look at social media or watch tv and started to read books. one of the series of books he read in that 2012 layoffs was "the hunger games." >> after losing to the oklahoma city thunder, the heat won the next four. nearly a decade after entering the league, lebron james had his first championship. the following year, james and

the heat did it all over again. beating san antonio in seven. after the final game, broadcasts by abc, he addressed the years of scrutiny he'd faced since leaving cleveland. >> i'm lebron james from akron, ohio, from the inner city. i'm not supposed to be here. so what everybody say about me off the court don't matter. i ain't got no worries. ♪ >> after back to back titles and twice being named mvp, lebron was winning back basketball fans, even in cleveland. once named by forbes magazine as one of the most hated athletes in pro sports, james and his image and brand were taking off. earlier james launched a management and marketing company lrmr the inches of the partners. like the decision in 2010, the choice to have his friends

manage lebron i didn't imagine was highly scrutinized. >> there was a lot of critics when that happened. there were a lot of articles written about what a horrible decision. it is going to ruin his career. >> you have seen the shot of the star athlete with the entourage and 9 times out of 10 that usually winds up to be a bad ending. especially when you start putting your friends in charge of your business interests. but lebron james is that rare exception. these are all very sharp, smart guys. >> james, too, was a sponge for knowledge looking to the icons and empire builders from other businesses for direction. including music mogul jay-z. >> lebron and jay-z start spending time together. and jay-z was a guy who didn't just make songs. he had his own label. he had his own clothing line. you know? he later would have his own

streaming music service and that's what lebron wanted. he didn't want to just be an employee. he wants to be an employer. >> the more he learned, the more james' off court ambitions grew. motivated by his humble beginnings. >> the things he went through with his mom really helped him aspire to be great and to work hard. >> over the years, lrmr partnered with some of the most powerful names in business. >> they hired paul wafter. one of the first things that paul wafter was able to do was link lebron james and warren buffett and let them bond. >> wafter made other powerful connections were james and company. >> paul wafter introduced him to jimmy getting him involved with beats headphones and getting bought by apple for billions of dollars and lebron participated in that sale. >> it was after a trip to an exclusive conference for media

and tech executives in sun valley, idaho, that lebron found his second calling. >> all the biggest names in media, technology and the internet are here. another new attendee turning heads, lebron james. >> people wanted to be in business with lebron james. lebron really recognized that media was a place he could have a long career after basketball. >> from feature films to digital series, lrmr are developed an enviable slate of high-end projects for hbo, showtime and nbc and its prime time series "the wall." >> seems like every time he opens his mouth they're green lighting a project that he wants to do. >> for james, though, success was always about more than just money. and despite a triumphant run in miami, the chosen one still had a prophesy to fulfill. coming up -- >> if we failed it was going to

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hi, i'm richard lui. one person was killed, at least six injured when a construction crane fell on an apartment building in dallas. this happened in a storm with high winds. the crane cut a gash in the building and parking garage next door. president trump attacking former nixon white house counsel john dean ahead of his appearance monday at a house hearing on the mueller report. in a tweet trump called dean a sleaze bag. now back to "headliners: lebron james." in the summer of 2014, after winning two nba championships with the miami heat, lebron james was once again a free agent. >> teams are lining up to lure the four-time mvp to sign with them. among them, cleveland. the city he left and a city that's never let him live it

down. >> wherever he chose to go, james was determined to handle this decision differently than the 2010 debacle on live tv. this time, he made his announcement in print. >> lebron james is headed home to cleveland. "sports illustrated" first to break the news. >> in the article, 29-year-old james said, quote, my relationship with northeast ohio is bigger than basketball. i didn't realize that four years ago. i do now. >> lebron matured, even the fans in cleveland matured. they recognized that he never left home. lebron likened his time in miami to going away to college but guess what. i wanted to come back home afterwards and so i think people get behind that. >> that summer the legions of fan that is cursed james for leaving them four years earlier welcomed their king back home. >> i love you. i'm back!

>> behind the scenes, james helped overhaul the cavs roster there was they hadn't even come close to winning without him. >> he quite frankly took crib notes from pat riley all the time in miami. he brought it to cleveland, plopped it down on the table and tried to apply it from the very start. >> in james' first season back the cavs made it to the nba finals against the golden state warriors, considered by sports writers as one of the best basketball teams ever. after six games, the cavs lost the series. the following season they regrouped under a new head coach and with some new teammates including nba veteran richard jefferson. >> i didn't go to cleveland. i didn't go to the cavs. like, i went to go play with the best player on the planet that had other great players around him. there was just so much talent there.

>> but james learned that talent alone didn't guarantee championships. he was determined to make this roster perform to his standards. >> the lebron james experience for a teammate can be overwhelming at times because the machine never stops. he's not a perfect leader. he can be demanding. he can be passive aggressive. but guys will also tell you that when they raise their level of game to a level they didn't recognize they had in them there's nothing more satisfying. >> he is the best player but he is also out there to make other people better. >> in 2016, the cavaliers earned a finals rematch with the golden state warriors. sports writers pegged the cavs as underdogs. >> we were a band of misfits to say it nicely but at the end of the day we all trusted each other and we understood each other. >> despite the effort, and desire of teammates, james knew the outcome was in his hands.

>> he was the person that everyone looked to in the sense that if we failed it was going to be his fault. if we succeeded it was going to be his fault. he took that and he owned it and he just demanded high level intensity from everyone. >> on june 2nd, 2016, the battle between king james and his arch rival steph curry kicked off. >> there was nothing enjoyable about that series. we lose the first game and we get blown out. lose the second game. okay. stressed out. blown out. >> in the locker room before the third game, james found an unusual way to inspire his teammates. a commencement address from the late ceo of apple. >> he starts playing the steve jobs speech from stanford and in that speech he talks connecting the dots. >> you can't connect the dots looking forward. you can only connect them looking backwards. believes the dots connect down the road will give you the

confidence to follow your heart. >> on june 8th, 2016, in the all-important game three, the cavs clinched their first win in the best of seven series crushing the warriors. >> clayton recovers in the bay area with 32 from the king on their home court. >> but look. we are still down 2-1 so you're still stressed and all of a sudden craziness happens. >> in game four, the warriors won again taking a three games to one lead. >> the golden state warriors are one game away from winning a second straight nba championship. >> no team had ever come back from a 3-1 deficit. >> there was no room for error and you go against a great team. we knew our chances were slim. >> for the cavaliers, game five was do or die. >> i was at game five and lebron

just took control of that game. if he wasn't scoring, kyrie irving was. >> back in cleveland for game six, the cavs won again. >> game six of the nba finals, lebron james willing his team to victory forcing a game seven. >> yeah. >> game seven was an epic nail biter. the team swapped the lead back and forth. late in the fourth quarter, with a score tied at 89, the warriors andre iguodala grabbed a rebound and raced to score. >> i'm looking at this like, oh no. all of a sudden and this is not an exaggeration. you just see this blur. >> that blur was james. >> it was him and his 260 pounds running full speed and he made one of the most impressive plays in literally the history of sports. >> abc's broadcast captured the stunning moment. >> block by james! >> that block was everything. that's when it hit me right at

that block like, wait. we have a chance. >> a minute later, kyrie irving hit a crucial three pointer and with ten seconds left, a james free throw sealed the championship. >> i can't recall a better nba finals than that one. >> the block became a defining block of the series. >> for the rest of his life whenever they show a highlight reel of lebron that will be the ultimate moment. it is not a shot. it is not a pass. it shows how complete of a player he is. >> it had been 52 years since cleveland had won a major sports championship. cavaliers players could barely contain their emotions. >> all of a sudden he crumbles. he just starts crying. it is like a guy searching for home and he found it. he is a different person than the guy we met as a 18-year-old which is what we all want to be. you don't know who that person

is until you become it. >> lebron james winning a championship for the city of cleveland is maybe the greatest basketball story ever told. coming up -- the king versus the president. award winning interface. award winning design. award winning engine. the volvo xc90. the most awarded luxury suv of the century. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost.

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ever since he entered the league basketball fans have compared lebron james to michael jordan. both the greatest of their time. both business moguls off the court. but when it came to social issues and politics, michael jordan was famously silent. >> jordan gave athletes a dirpt kind of blueprint. he thought them to be global brands and you could potentially sacrifice all of that by being too political, by being too

outspoken. >> for the first nine years of his career james appeared to follow jordan's lead. but in 2012, when james was playing for the miami heat, a tragic incident in florida changed that. >> a grand jury will convene next month in florida to consider evidence in the death of trayvon martin, an unarmed black teenager gunned down by a basketball neighborhood watch captain. >> lebron james understands while he is providing an affluent life for his children, trayvon martin may happen to his sons. >> in the days of martin's death, james and dwyane wade gathered the teammates for a photo. they posed wearing hoodies like trayvon wore when he was killed. james tweeted the photo and it went viral. >> that was the light bulb going off. >> and going forward from there lebron just became more brazen and he said i'm going to be who

i am and if the companies want to be in business with me, if the fans want to be my fans they will have to accept me for who i am. >> in april 2014, james was stirred into action again. this time by racism within the nba itself after a tape was released of los angeles clippers owner donald sterling making racist remarks. >> don't come to my games, don't bring black people and don't come. >> james spoke out before a playoff game in an espn interview. >> can't happen from a player, can't have it from an owner, a fan. so on and so on. >> lebron james most important player, money maker, went before a national tv audience and told everybody that donald sterling did not belong in the nba. that was the message to the league. >> effective immediately, i am banning mr. sterling for life from any association with the clippers organization or the nba. >> i think that lebron at a

certain age, especially when he got to his mid-20s realized it was more than basketball. >> don't touch me. >> caught on tape, the arrest of 43-year-old eric garner by new york city police. today his death was ruled a homicide. >> i can't breathe. >> i can't breathe! i can't breathe! >> jououtraged, james remarkabl publicly. >> here in new york. >> cavs star lebron james took the court with the words i can't breathe. >> james couldn't ignore the rash of police violence. >> a deadly struggle between police and a man in louisiana. >> 2015, cameras captured the deadly encounter of baron rouge police and alton sterling. >> hey, boss. >> the following day, news broke of another black male killed by police in minnesota during a traffic stop.

the victim was castil. james reacted on twitter and then the next week at the espy awards broadcast by abc. james with fellow stars addressed a national audience. >> let's use this moment as a call to action for all professional athletes to educate ourselves, explore these issues, speak up, use our influence and renounce all violence. >> to take it from just a tweet to then using a huge platform like the espys that the country needed healing, it is an amazing transformation that's taken place. in many respects, the black athlete has been reawakened. some of that has to do with the political time we are in. >> san francisco 49ers quarterback colin kaepernick is standing firm this morning in his highly controversial refusal to stand up during the national

anthem. >> in the fall of 2017, kaepernick's protest caught the attention of america's new president. >> wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say, get that son of a bitch off the field right now? out. he's fired. he's fired! >> while trump tackled the nfl, james took on trump. >> i'm not going to let -- while i have this platform to let one individual no matter the power, no matter the impact that he should have or she should have, ever use sport as a platform to divide us. >> when nba champion steph curry refused an invitation to the white house in 2017, president trump tweeted going to the white house is considered a great honor for a championship team. stefen curry is hesitating, therefore, the invitation is

withdrawn. lebron james jumped into the fray to defend his on court rival tweeting, you bum. @stefen curry 30 already said he ain't invite. going to who i say was a great honor. until you showed up. >> you call somebody a bum. it's the president of the united states? that's just -- i don't know. there's no come back. >> james post was retweeted nearly 700,000 times. five months later in an interview on his digital platform. james and kevin durant landed on the topic of trump. >> the number one job in america. the point of person is someone who doesn't understand the people. and really don't give a -- about the people. >> our team as a country is not ran by a great coach. >> frequent trump cheer leader was quick to fire back. on her fox news show. >> keep the political commentary

to yourself. or someone once said. shut up and dribble. >> two days later in a press conference at the all star game, james was asked how he felt about the comments. >> the best thing she did is going to help me create awareness. i have sit up here and talk about social injustice and kwaelty. i will not shut up and dribble. i mean too much to my family and the kids that look up to my for inspiration. >> he turned the phrase into a show time series about athletes and politics. narrated by hill. >> this is our moment to know people how fwewe felt as a team >> coming up. lebron james and president trump. face off on the court of social media. a. so you only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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you guys be good. i'llshe's gone.ter. it's a dangerous world. [ screaming ] [ grunting ] woo hoo! [ screaming ] pops are your friends gonna die? pickles don't be so dramatic. but yes probably. there they are. aww! basketball sen station lebron james wasn't holding back when it came to criticizing the

president. in july of 2018, he appeared on cnn tonight with don lemon. >> what i have noticed over the last few months. he's used sport to divide us and that's something that i can't relate to. >> by his tweet it appeared president trump was listening. lebron james was just interviewed by the dumbest man on tv. don lemon. he made lebron james look smart. which isn't easy to do. i like michael hancock was a reference to michael jordan. who came to jamess defense. >> jordan saying i support lj. he's doing an amazing job for his community. >> the president exposed himself for calling lebron james stupid. between the two of them only one is a self-made millionaire. to call that person unintelligent. it speaks through the intelligence of the person who said it. >> james out spokenness didn't

come without consequence. in 2017 a racial slur was spray painted on the gate of his home. >> a disturbing off the court incident. he delivered a powerful message after his home was vandalized. >> no matter how much money you have. no matter how famous you are. how many people admire you. being black in america is tough. and we have a long way to go. for us as a society and for us as african americans until we feel equal in america. >> in the two seasons that follow the 2016 championship. lebron james and the cavaliers returned to the finals. after devastating back to back losses to the warriors in 2017. and 2018.

there was little expectation. even among cavs fans that lebron james would stay in cleveland. >> where he'll take hiss talent next. >> teams wooing him from coast to coast. july 1, 2018, james agent rich paul announced on twitter he signed a deal with a new team. the l.a. lakers. in cleveland this time, there were no public burnings of his jersey. and james let it be known he wasn't abandoning his hometown. he would give ohio something even more valuable than a championship. >> super-star lebron james. three time champ returning to akron, ohio. for what he called one of the greatest moments of his life. >> the star opened a school in akron. for at risk children. james's mother raised the flag at the i promise school. which offers education,

scholarship and resources to some of northeast ohio neediest families. >> these kids should have the same opportunity as everyone else. these kids are the future. and no matter if i'm play ng l.a. or not. akron, ohio is always home. >> i know exactly what the 240 kids are going through. i know the streets they walk. i know the trials and tribulations they go through. i have been there. >> he's never forgotten those that have helped him along the way. he's never forgotten the hard times that his mom and he had together. >> i promise. >> to learn in school. >> basketball has been his passion. but in giving back, lebron has found his calling.

>> this is a guy who could be where ever he wants in the world. live nay he wants. who comes back to akron, ohio to model a football uniform that he personally designed for his old football team? lebron james. >> he was a really talented basketball player. when i met him at 14. the man he is 20 years later, is a global icon. influencer. a social activist. a leader of a foundation that helps children. and someone who envisions this as the first half of his life. >> who i am as a man and off the floor defines my legacy more than the court. that's how i think about it. it comes to a point you prioritize what's important what's not important. basketball is very important. many family and friends is more important. i love the game. i represent a much bigger calling than a basketball.

hello, i'm lester holt. basketball legislates start out in local gyms like this. that was the case with ten year-old lebron james. akron, ohio. his remarkable streak of 13 straight play off appearances ended in 2019, he's reached new heights off the court. in this headliners, the extraordinary king james. he's been a human highlight reel since high school. 18 basketball phenomenon. is going to the league.

>> a super-star from the start. and slam for making a controversial decision on live tv. >> he broke up the city on lye tv and everybody hated his guts for it. >> redeemed by greatness. >> if we failed it was going to be his fault. he's at his best. everything is on the line. >> lebron james is not only basketball's reigning super-star. he's the worlds most influential and out spoken athletes. >> you call the president of the united states a bum? >> he's savvy. he's smart. and he will attack when his moment comes. he is decades since an athlete of extraordinary talent had so much power and influence outside

their sport. lebron james has built a social media following, more than 60 million strong to share his views. >> i use my voice right now through social media. something goes wrong i feel like is important i speak upon it. >> he speaks truth to power in a way we haven't seen since 1960s. >> i think lebron recognizing the social impact of mohammed ali and strives to be a great athlete and to be that impact. >> i was around the community that was like our vote doesn't matter. but it really does. it really, really does. >> you can say you don't like lebron's political beliefs. you recall watch him anyway. you will watch him because he's just that good. >> sense he entered the league in 2003, lebron james has been one of the nba's most dominant players. >> he was built in a lab. i think he's the most unique physical talent that's been seen in the nba.

>> four mvp awards, eight straight finals, three championships. after 16 seasons, he's still electrifying crowds as he did in the october 2018 debut for his newest nba team. >> james to the bucket! >> lebron james has been changing the game and the business of basketball since he was a rookie. >> if you believe the hype the future of the nba relies on a single man known by a single name. lebron. >> extremely gifted athletically and mentally. you add to that package and an awareness of everything around him and you have the type of human that you don't come across very often. >> to understand his remarkable journey we must understand where it all began. akron, ohio. >> the story of him rising from that childhood is every bit as

impressive and amazing as what's happened in his basketball career. >> when gloria james gave birth to her son in late december 1984, she was 16 years old. his father was never part of their family. just three years later, gloria lost the only help she had. >> her mother died young. lebron was only 3 years old. >> reporter brian winhorst covered lebron for 20 years. >> the stability was wrecked when his grandmother died and they were essentially homeless or on the edge of homeless for a period of time. >> without that a place of their own, they stayed with friends. >> there was violence throughout his entire childhood. the project he lived for a time was underneath a bridge in akron where people routinely jumped off of. >> isolated poverty, lebron missed about 80 days of fourth grade. >> we didn't have a car. i didn't have stability. day-to-day i didn't know where i was living.

it was a surprise when to me when i woke up and i was going to school. it was just a lot of empty days, empty nights and just kind of a no future thought process. >> the following year, a local youth basketball coach frank walker invited lebron to live with his family. >> he lived with the coach to get back on track academic amly and give him some stability. it gave him a sense of family, how to carry himself. >> they taught lebron the value of routine. those folks helped shape lebron and he ended up living with them on and off for a period of several years. until his mother got more on her feet. >> the walker family also nurtured lebron's passion for basketball. ly bron began playing organized hoops as a 10-year-old. willie mcgee was a childhood teammate and friend. >> we were wet behind the ears and some things he picked up naturally. left-hand layups. he understood who he played with.

and how to get the ball in the right situation. he wanted everybody else to get reck okay in addition, as well. >> one of the reasons lebron really became an unselfish player was that he treasured playing with his friends. he was somebody who wasn't able to put down roots an enso the concept that he could play basketball with his friends and share with them became very important to him. >> at st. vincent st. mary high school in akron, lebron and teammates known as the fab five became local celebrities. lebron and friends turned the school's basketball team into a national powerhouse. >> what he did was see the game. his ability to throw the pass that nobody could see coming. his ability to set up the defender by baiting him. it's confidence in himself. you didn't see teenagers do stuff like this. >> i play like it's my last game because it might be my last game. you know? i have to give it play 110% and

help my team get the victory and please the crowd to keep coming back. >> the summer after his sophomore year, lebron attended a summer camp for elite high school players. >> i can remember him coming back and, you know, saying that i want to be on the cover of a magazine. >> soon that dream came true. and it wasn't just any magazine. it was the cover of the february 18th, 2002, "sports illustrated." >> when lebron was in high school the nba was obsessed with finding the next michael jordan and so when they called him the chosen one they were talking about the guy that's going to do for the nba what michael had done. >> he took off. he embraced it. you know? he started working harder. he really understood that this is an opportunity to change him and his family's life. he wanted to be the next michael jordan. >> like mike, he even wore the number 23.

the demand to see lebron play was so high that some games were moved to the university of akron and espn for the first time in the network's history televised high school basketball. >> espn is sending not just a broadcast team but dick vital to his games, all right? >> if he's half as good of what i heard about him he is going to be a special athlete. >> i remember going to his first nationally televised game. i covered it. check the birth certificate. no way this kid is only 17 years old. what really left me impressed was the fact that he was such a willing passer. it was very clear that it was important to him that the game wasn't all about him. >> if i pass the ball to my teammates they can finish, hilt the open shot or make the layup and goes both ways. >> people showing up thinking they see a guy overhyped but not only did he answer the bell he was awesome. >> coaches, agents, sneaker

executives and tv producers all wanted an audience with the teenage sensation. >> at least 20, 25 requests a day. we heard from the letterman show, leno. we would get requests from people wanting him to come and shoot with their kids at their child's bar mitsvah. it was just unbelievable. >> all under the watchful eye of lebron's mother gloria. >> as he was pulled in more and more differently directions, the motherly protection instincts kicked into high gear. this was her son's life. >> the teenager signed a lucrative deal with nike for tens of millions before graduating high school. at a postgame press conference, a reporter asked about the plans. >> he looked over at me and he said, well, patty, i think i have to get back to school. i have a lot of assignments to make up. he didn't have to do that but it was on his mind.

it was part of the plan. i'm going to finish. and my work will reflect who i am. coming up -- >> he broke up with the city on live tv and everybody hated his guts for it. oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no... only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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[ sigh ] introducing an easier way to move with xfinity. it's just another way we're working to make your life simple, easy, awesome. go to xfinity.com/moving to get started. this evening in new york city the nba holds the annual draft and could turn dozens of teenage boys into millionaires. >> one of the worst teams in the nba in 2003 the cleveland cavaliers had first dibs on the incoming rookies. their choice was announced live on espn. >> the cleveland cavaliers select lebron james. >> the chosen one, here's this guy playing for a depressed city that's been through a lot of hard times giving them someone to cheer for, to believe in. >> lebron james having played at

the high school level played the first nba game. just minutes in, he showed the audience what all the hype was about. as seen on espn. >> there's the first james jam of his career. >> 18-year-old lebron james wowed them in the nba debut last night showing the signs of a superstar. >> but behind the scenes it was much more difficult. he was on the cleveland cavaliers team that was not very good. there was jealousy from the teammates and he didn't know how to stand up for himself. >> he was making more money on endorsements than the guys, even guys with ridges and all-star appearances and when there's an opportunity to set a pick on lebron, they set it in his chest. and made him feel it. >> that season, the 6'8" teenage rookie not only learned to hold his own, he became the cavs leading scorer. despite his dominance, critics claimed he didn't measure up to the league's last true superstar michael jordan.

>> he was always being accused of passing the ball when michael would have shot it, not wanting the ball at the end of the game. >> people were frustrated when him because they thought he was a little too selfless. >> as crowds started to warm to james' style, in 2004, he made his international debut in his first of three olympics. then in 2007, after four seasons in the league, james pulled off his biggest feat yet. leading the lowly cavaliers all the way to the finals against the spurs. >> even with his game still maturing before us he was able to get cleveland to the finals with five dudes people couldn't name right now. >> they were swept in four games. but james continued the unlikely streak carrying the cavaliers deep into the playoffs for the next three seasons. despite his drive to win, the

chosen one just couldn't bring a title to cleveland. >> he had taken cleveland as far as he could take them. >> as james' contract expired at the end of the 2010 season, the basketball world fixiated on one question. >> where will lebron james play next? >> free agents usually go to the team with the highest bid but 25-year-old james joined forces with two olympic teammates to form their own dream team, the big three as they would become known saw it as a path to a nba title. >> you didn't see free agents in the past be so confident about this is my life, i'm taking control here. >> as speculation on where james would go escalated -- >> 30 of me i would play for every team. >> -- news broke that james would announce his decision on live tv with proceeds from the special going to charity, james' inner circle believed it was a

forward thinking player empowering idea. >> big sports story across the world, lebron james will reveal his big decision in just a few hours. he has milked this opportunity to the max. >> on july 8th, 2010, some 13 million americans tuned in to the espn special dubbed "the decision." >> lebron, what's your decision? >> in this time i'm going to take my talents to south beach and join the miami beach. -- heat. >> he broke up with the city on live tv and everybody hated his guts for it. >> cavaliers fans took it to heart. the hardest. >> this is what i do to lebron. >> they had the legacy of the browns losing and the indians losing. they're a home grown product to feel so proud about was making them a joke all over again. >> no longer the hero or the savior, the chosen one. he was america's villain now. >> a villain with powerful allies.

the day after the decision james was in miami starring in a preseason pep rally with his new superteammates dwyane wade and chris bosh and appeared to be caught up in their own hype promising heat fans multiple championships. >> not three? not four? not five. not six. not seven. nope. >> so now not just lebron was hated but the whole miele heat team. >> when they played in cleveland 2010, cavs fans let lebron know how they felt. >> he didn't completely understand why there was such backlash and what he really couldn't figure out was why he was hated in places that had no skin in the game. booed in memphis and portland. >> it was a unique point in his career because lebron had never worn the black hat, never been

the villain. >> he changed his whole mind-set coming to the game of basketball. and it led to a dark place. >> it threw him off. it made him question himself. he didn't know who he was. >> despite james' unease, the talent rich heat plowed the way into the nba finals. >> when miami got to the nba finals that year in 2011 they looked by far like the best team. >> after taking the first game in the best of seven series the heat players were confident the championship was theirs. >> dwyane wade makes a big three pointer in the corner and poses as michael jordan did once and lebron is throwing shadow punches at dwyane wade. >> it kind of reminds you of that opening pep rally in miami where it was a premature celebration. >> after losing game two, the heat rallied to win game three but after that, lost three

straight and fell to the underdog mavericks. >> the dallas mavericks beat the miami heat 105-95 to take their first nba title in franchise history. >> the heat didn't just lose that finals in 2011. they lost and lebron played terrible. he was the main reason why they lost the finals. and that was a very difficult pill to swallow. >> so many people that were happy lebron james was humiliated. a lot of people saw that as lebron comeuppance for what he did to cleveland. >> lebron said the best thing that happened to him is losing to dallas because it forced him to look in the mirror and take stock of all the mistakes he made not just the decision but all of them and he had to decide how he was going to be a better player and a better person. coming up -- >> there were a lot of articles written about what a horrible decision it's going to ruin his career. i want it that way... ♪

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miami heat in 2010 for a singular purpose. to win a nba championship. but after the heat's devastating loss in that season's finals, 26-year-old james did some off season soul searching. >> he removed himself from the world for weeks to try to process just what went down. i mean, he was the pressure cooker from the moment he sat down from the decision to the moment he lost the finals. >> you can't live your life on someone else's path. >> he made some new decisions. not just about basketball, but about family. his high school sweetheart savannah and their two young boys. >> daddy! >> when lebron moved to miami, savannah did not come with him and did not bring the boys and he realized he needed to have his family with him full-time so he went to savannah and he said i want you to move to miami so by new year's eve second season

he proposed to her and been happily married ever since. >> in december of 2011, james and the heat jumped into the new season with renewed vigor. under the guidance of coach erik spoelstra and basketball legend pat riley, they dominated the opposition and in the spring of 2012, they were once again playing for the title. this time would be different for james. >> he would not read the internet. he would not look at social media or watch tv and started to read books. one of the series of books he read in that 2012 layoffs was "the hunger games." >> after losing to the oklahoma city thunder, the heat won the next four. nearly a decade after entering the league, lebron james had his first championship.

the following year, james and the heat did it all over again. beating san antonio in seven. after the final game, broadcasts by abc, he addressed the years of scrutiny he'd faced since leaving cleveland. >> i'm lebron james from akron, ohio, from the inner city. i'm not supposed to be here. so what everybody say about me off the court don't matter. i ain't got no worries. ♪ >> after back to back titles and twice being named mvp, lebron was winning back basketball fans, even in cleveland. once named by forbes magazine as one of the most hated athletes in pro sports, james and his image and brand were taking off. earlier james launched a management and marketing company lrmr the inches of the partners. like the decision in 2010, the

choice to have his friends manage lebron i didn't imagine was highly scrutinized. >> there was a lot of critics when that happened. there were a lot of articles written about what a horrible decision. it is going to ruin his career. >> you have seen the shot of the star athlete with the entourage and 9 times out of 10 that usually winds up to be a bad ending. especially when you start putting your friends in charge of your business interests. but lebron james is that rare exception. these are all very sharp, smart guys. >> james, too, was a sponge for knowledge looking to the icons and empire builders from other businesses for direction. including music mogul jay-z. >> lebron and jay-z start spending time together. and jay-z was a guy who didn't just make songs. he had his own label. he had his own clothing line. you know?

he later would have his own streaming music service and that's what lebron wanted. he didn't want to just be an employee. he wants to be an employer. >> the more he learned, the more james' off court ambitions grew. motivated by his humble beginnings. >> the things he went through with his mom really helped him aspire to be great and to work hard. >> over the years, lrmr partnered with some of the most powerful names in business. >> they hired paul wafter. financial adviser. one of the first things that paul wafter was able to do was link lebron james and warren buffett and let them bond. >> wafter made other powerful connections were james and company. >> paul wafter introduced him to jimmy getting him involved with beats headphones and getting bought by apple for billions of dollars and lebron participated in that sale. >> it was after a trip to an

exclusive conference for media and tech executives in sun valley, idaho, that lebron found his second calling. >> all the biggest names in media, technology and the internet are here. another new attendee turning heads, lebron james. >> people wanted to be in business with lebron james. lebron really recognized that media was a place he could have a long career after basketball. >> from feature films to digital series, lrmr are developed an enviable slate of high-end projects for hbo, showtime and nbc and its prime time series "the wall." >> seems like every time he opens his mouth they're green lighting a project that he wants to do. >> for james, though, success was always about more than just money. and despite a triumphant run in miami, the chosen one still had a prophesy to fulfill. coming up --

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mass protests in hong kong. against government sponsored legislation that allows people to be extradited to main line china to face criminal charges. the legal system will not guarantee defendants the same rights at hong kong. trump and biden will be sharing a state tuesday. the president tanding a fun raiser or the iowa gop. the democratic fundraiser holding two event ins the hawk eye state. back to headliners lebron james. in the summer of 2014, after winning two nba championships with the miami heat, lebron james was once again a free agent. >> teams are lining up to lure the four-time mvp to sign with them.

among them, cleveland. the city he left and a city that's never let him live it down. >> wherever he chose to go, james was determined to handle this decision differently than the 2010 debacle on live tv. this time, he made his announcement in print. >> lebron james is headed home to cleveland. "sports illustrated" first to break the news. >> in the article, 29-year-old james said, quote, my relationship with northeast ohio is bigger than basketball. i didn't realize that four years ago. i do now. >> lebron matured, even the fans in cleveland matured. they recognized that he never left home. lebron likened his time in miami to going away to college but guess what. i wanted to come back home afterwards and so i think people get behind that. >> that summer the legions of fan that is cursed james for leaving them four years earlier welcomed their king back home. >> i love you.

i'm back! >> behind the scenes, james helped overhaul the cavs roster there was a lot of work to do. there was they hadn't even come close to winning without him. >> he quite frankly took crib notes from pat riley all the time in miami. he brought it to cleveland, plopped it down on the table and tried to apply it from the very start. >> in james' first season back the cavs made it to the nba finals against the golden state warriors, considered by sports writers as one of the best basketball teams ever. after six games, the cavs lost the series. the following season they regrouped under a new head coach and with some new teammates including nba veteran richard jefferson. >> i didn't go to cleveland. i didn't go to the cavs. like, i went to go play with the best player on the planet that had other great players around

him. there was just so much talent there. >> but james learned that talent alone didn't guarantee championships. he was determined to make this roster perform to his standards. >> the lebron james experience for a teammate can be overwhelming at times because the machine never stops. he's not a perfect leader. he can be demanding. he can be passive aggressive. but guys will also tell you that when they raise their level of game to a level they didn't recognize they had in them there's nothing more satisfying. >> he is the best player but he is also out there to make other people better. >> in 2016, the cavaliers earned a finals rematch with the golden state warriors. sports writers pegged the cavs as underdogs. >> we were a band of misfits to say it nicely but at the end of the day we all trusted each other and we understood each other. >> despite the effort, and

desire of teammates, james knew the outcome was in his hands. >> he was the person that everyone looked to in the sense that if we failed it was going to be his fault. if we succeeded it was going to be his fault. he took that and he owned it and he just demanded high level intensity from everyone. >> on june 2nd, 2016, the battle between king james and his arch rival steph curry kicked off. >> there was nothing enjoyable about that series. we lose the first game and we get blown out. lose the second game. okay. stressed out. blown out. >> in the locker room before the third game, james found an unusual way to inspire his teammates. a commencement address from the late ceo of apple. >> he starts playing the steve jobs speech from stanford and in that speech he talks connecting the dots. >> you can't connect the dots looking forward. you can only connect them looking backwards.

believes the dots connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart. guys were doing what they were doing. but everyone was listening. >> on june 8th, 2016, in the all-important game three, the cavs clinched their first win in the best of seven series crushing the warriors. >> clayton recovers in the bay area with 32 from the king on their home court. >> but look. we are still down 2-1 so you're still stressed and all of a sudden craziness happens. >> in game four, the warriors won again taking a three games to one lead. >> the golden state warriors are one game away from winning a second straight nba championship. >> no team had ever come back from a 3-1 deficit. >> there was no room for error and you go against a great team. we knew our chances were slim. we were extremely focussed. even in the face of adversity. >> for the cavaliers, game five was do or die.

>> i was at game five and lebron just took control of that game. if he wasn't scoring, kyrie irving was. they won that game on golden states floor. >> back in cleveland for game six, the cavs won again. >> game six of the nba finals, lebron james willing his team to victory forcing a game seven. >> yeah. >> game seven was an epic nail biter. the team swapped the lead back and forth. late in the fourth quarter, with a score tied at 89, the warriors andre iguodala grabbed a rebound and raced to score. >> i'm looking at this like, oh no. all of a sudden and this is not an exaggeration. you just see this blur. >> that blur was james. >> it was him and his 260 pounds running full speed and he made one of the most impressive plays in literally the history of sports. >> abc's broadcast captured the stunning moment. >> block by james!

>> that block was everything. that's when it hit me right at that block like, wait. we have a chance. >> a minute later, kyrie irving hit a crucial three pointer and with ten seconds left, a james free throw sealed the championship. >> i can't recall a better nba finals than that one. >> the block became a defining block of the series. >> for the rest of his life whenever they show a highlight reel of lebron that will be the ultimate moment. it is not a shot. it is not a pass. it shows how complete of a player he is. >> it had been 52 years since cleveland had won a major sports championship. cavaliers players could barely contain their emotions. >> all of a sudden he crumbles. he just starts crying. it is like a guy searching for home and he found it. he is a different person than the guy we met as a 18-year-old which is what we all want to be.

you don't know who that person is until you become it. >> lebron james winning a championship for the city of cleveland is maybe the greatest basketball story ever told. coming up -- the king versus the president. ♪ the house, kids, they're living the dream ♪ ♪ and here comes the wacky new maid ♪ -maid? uh, i'm not the... -♪ is she an alien, is she a spy? ♪ ♪ she's always here, someone tell us why ♪ -♪ why, oh, why -♪ she's not the maid we wanted ♪ -because i'm not the maid! -♪ but she's the maid we got -again, i'm not the maid. i protect your home and auto. -hey, campbells. who's your new maid? i protect your home and auto. so chantix can help you quit slow turkey.rkey. along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first

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ever since he entered the league basketball fans have compared lebron james to michael jordan. both the greatest of their time. both business moguls off the court. but when it came to social issues and politics, michael jordan was famously silent. >> jordan gave athletes a different kind of blueprint. he thought them to be global brands and you could potentially sacrifice all of that by being too political, by being too outspoken.

>> for the first nine years of his career james appeared to follow jordan's lead. but in 2012, when james was playing for the miami heat, a tragic incident in florida changed that. >> a grand jury will convene next month in florida to consider evidence in the death of trayvon martin, an unarmed black teenager gunned down by a basketball neighborhood watch captain. >> lebron james understands while he is providing an affluent life for his children, trayvon martin may happen to his sons. >> in the days of martin's death, james and dwyane wade gathered the teammates for a photo. they posed wearing hoodies like trayvon wore when he was killed. james tweeted the photo and it went viral. >> that was the light bulb going off. in terms of i should be doing more with this platform. >> and going forward from there lebron just became more brazen and he said i'm going to be who i am and if the companies want

to be in business with me, if the fans want to be my fans they will have to accept me for who i am. >> in april 2014, james was stirred into action again. this time by racism within the nba itself after a tape was released of los angeles clippers owner donald sterling making racist remarks. >> don't come to my games, don't bring black people and don't come. >> james spoke out before a playoff game in an espn interview. >> can't happen from a player, can't have it from an owner, a fan. so on and so on. >> lebron james most important player, money maker, went before a national tv audience and told everybody that donald sterling did not belong in the nba. that was the message to the league. >> effective immediately, i am banning mr. sterling for life from any association with the clippers organization or the nba. >> i think that lebron at a certain age, especially when he

got to his mid-20s realized it was more than basketball. >> don't touch me. >> caught on tape, the arrest of 43-year-old eric garner by new york city police. today his death was ruled a homicide. >> i can't breathe. >> i can't breathe! i can't breathe! >> outraged, james remarkably publicly. >> here in new york. >> cavs star lebron james took the court with the words i can't breathe. >> james couldn't ignore the rash of police violence. >> a deadly struggle between police and a man in louisiana. >> 2015, cameras captured the deadly encounter of baron rouge police and alton sterling. >> hey, boss. >> the following day, news broke of another black male killed by police in minnesota during a traffic stop.

the victim was castil. james reacted on twitter and then the next week at the espy awards broadcast by abc. james with fellow stars addressed a national audience. >> let's use this moment as a call to action for all professional athletes to educate ourselves, explore these issues, speak up, use our influence and renounce all violence. >> to take it from just a tweet to then using a huge platform and making a collective statement. like the espys that the country needed healing, it is an amazing transformation that's taken place. in many respects, the black athlete has been reawakened. some of that has to do with the political time we are in. >> san francisco 49ers quarterback colin kaepernick is standing firm this morning in his highly controversial refusal to stand up during the national anthem.

>> in the fall of 2017, kaepernick's protest caught the attention of america's new president. >> wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say, get that son of a bitch off the field right now? out. he's fired. he's fired! >> while trump tackled the nfl, james took on trump. >> i'm not going to let -- while i have this platform to let one individual no matter the power, no matter the impact that he should have or she should have, ever use sport as a platform to divide us. >> when nba champion steph curry refused an invitation to the white house in 2017, president trump tweeted going to the white house is considered a great honor for a championship team. stephen curry is hesitating, therefore, the invitation is withdrawn. lebron james jumped into the

fray to defend his on court rival tweeting, you bum. @stephen curry 30 already said he ain't going. so therefore ain't no invite. going to the white house was a great honor until you show up. great honor until you show up. >> you call somebody a bum, and it's the president of the united states? even though there's no comeback. >> james' post was retweeted nearly 700,000 times. nine months in later in an interview, james and kevin durant la durant landed on the tomek of donald trump. >> the number one job in america is someone who doesn't understand the people. and really don't give a [ bleep ] about the people. >> i feel like our country is not ran by a great couch. >> frequent trump cheerleader

laura ingram was quick to fire back on fox. >> so keep the political commentary to yourself, or as someone said, shut up and dribble. >> two days later, james was asked how he felt about ingram's comments. >> the best thing she did is help me create more awareness. i get to sit up here and talk about social injustice and inequality. i will not shut up and dribble. i mean too much to my family and all these other kids that live up to me for inspiration. >> james turned the phrase into a showtime series about athletes and politics, narrated by jamal hill. >> this ask our moment to let people know how we feel. >> coming up, lebron james and president trump face-off on the court of social media. court of social media. so you only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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basketball sensation lebron james wasn't holding back when

it came to criticizing the president. in july of 2018, he appeared on cnn tonight with don lemon. >> what i've noticed over the last few months, that he's kind of used sport to kind of divide us, and that's something that i can't relate to. >> by his tweet, it appeared president trump was listening. >> mike was a reference to michael jordan, who soon came to james' defense. >> jordan telling nbc news, i support l.j. he's doing an amazing job for his community. >> the president exposed himself for calling lebron james stupid. between the two of them, only one of them is a self-made millionaire. so to call that person unintelligent speaks to the intelligence of the person who

said it. >> james' outspokenness didn't come without consequence. in 2017, a racial slur was spray painted on the gate of his brentwood, california home. >> superstar lebron james is speaking out after his home was vandalized. >> no matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter how many people admire you, being black in america is tough. and we've got a long way to go. you know, for us as a society and for us as african-americans until we feel equal in america. >> in the two seasons that followed their 2016 championship, lebron and the cavaliers returned to the nba finals. after devastating back-to-back

losses to the golden state warriors in 2017 and 2018, there was little expectation, even among cavs' fans, that lebron would stay in cleveland. >> where will he take his talents next? >> with nba teams wooing him from coast to coast, on july 1st, 2018, james' agent, rich paul, announced on twitter that james had signed a four-year deal with a new team, the los angeles lakers. in cleveland this time, there were no public burnings of james' jersey. and james let it be known that he wasn't abandoning his hometown. he would give ohio something even more valuable than a championship. superstar lebron james returning to his hometown of akron, ohio today, for what he called one of the greatest moments of his life. the nba star opened a school in akron for at-risk children. james' mother, gloria, raised

the flag at the i promise school, which offers education, scholarships and resources to some of northeast ohio's neediest families. >> these kids still have the same opportunities as everyone else. these kids are our future. and no matter if i'm playing in los angeles or not, akron, ohio is always home for me. i know exactly what these 240 kids are going through. i know the streets that they walk, i know the trials and tribulations that they go through, because i've been there. >> he's never forgotten those that have helped him along the way. he's never forgotten the hard times that his mom and he had together. >> i promise -- >> i promise -- >> to go to school -- >> to go to school. >> basketball has been his passion. but in giving back, lebron has

found his calling. >> this is a guy who could be wherever he wants in the world. live any way he wants. who comes back to akron, ohio to model a football uniform that he personally designed for his old football team? lebron james. >> he was a really talented basketball player when i met him when he was 14. the man that he is 20 years later is a global icon, an influencer, a social activist, a leader of a foundation that helps children, and someone who envisions this in just the first half of his life. swhoz i am as a man and who i do off the floor defines my legacy more than what i do on the point. it comes to a point where you're able to prioritize what's important and not. the game of basketball is very important to me.

but my family and friends is more important. i love the game, but i love the much bigger calling than just basketball. ♪ ♪ she was there. >> she'd walk into the room and kind of brightened. >> and then she wasn't. >> my initial reaction was what has happened? >> the mother they adored. missing. in her place, a trail of blood. >> my biggest fear was we were going to find her. >> what police found instead was a puzzle. >> in my 28 years, i have never seen that before. >> a missing woman. a mystery with few clues. >> dinld you find any