‘Shooting Stars’: The stakes have always been high for LeBron James

Long before LeBron James donned the purple and gold en route to an NBA title and the league’s all-time scoring record, he was introduced to the world in green and gold.

The unprecedented hype that surrounded Mr. James in high school – and the bond with his teammates in Akron, Ohio, during his formative years – is chronicled in the movie “Shooting Stars.”

The film, streaming on Peacock starting June 2, is inspired by a coming-of-age memoir written by Mr. James and co-author Buzz Bissinger of “Friday Night Lights” fame. The look back at the trials and triumphs of the young player and his teammates is particularly compelling given recent news that Mr. James may be considering retirement.

“I got a lot to think about,” he said after his Los Angeles Lakers were recently eliminated in the Western Conference Finals by the Denver Nuggets. “Just personally, with me moving forward with the game of basketball, I got a lot to think about.”

Mr. James, perhaps not ironically, channeled Jay-Z on Instagram with another retirement hint earlier this week. “I’m supposed to be #1 on everybody list, we’ll see what happens when I no longer exist,” the basketball icon quoted on his Instagram story, a callback to Jay-Z’s “The Black Album,” which the rapper suggested at the time would be his last. He has since released five albums, and Mr. James has long suggested that he wants to continue long enough to play with his namesake son, “Bronny.” 

The retirement hints are the musings of a man with a “championship or bust” mentality. It’s a commentary that reflects the high stakes with which Mr. James continues to approach the game. This recent movie about his life shows us that those stakes were present long before his professional career.

In what the memoir’s summary describes as “challenges all too typical of inner city America,” Mr. James had moved with his mother, Gloria, more than a dozen times by the time he turned 10. That sense of instability was also present in the life of his teammate, Willie McGee, who left his parents in Chicago to be raised by his older brother.

The biopic does not handle those circumstances with kid gloves. Within the first few minutes of the movie, the actors depicting the young Mr. James, Mr. McGee, and the other members of the “Fab Five” fire off curse words. Those obscenities don’t define the boys, nor their upbringing. They would eventually find a father figure in Dru Joyce, whose son, “Lil’ Dru,” plays a prominent role in the movie and on the team. The biopic does a good job of centering the players beyond their most famous standout. It is at its best when the risks the young people took are most apparent – from the younger Joyce’s successful pitch to coach Keith Dambrot to have the group play together, to Mr. James’ toeing the line between prep star and professional.

It’s hard to imagine now that his career as a basketball player might have ever been in question, but when Mr. James was ruled ineligible to play after he accepted two jerseys that cost less than $1,000, it cast a shadow over that surety.

At the time, the jerseys and his mother’s purchase of a $50,000 Hummer were filed under the umbrella of “scandal.” While society still struggles with the earning potential and negotiating power of college athletes, much less top-flight high school players, it is fitting that “name, image, likeness” valuations of Mr. James’ son, “Bronny,” are in the millions of dollars.

Yet the senior LeBron was “The Chosen One.” Sports Illustrated gave him that name and the front cover, along with the burden of being Michael Jordan’s “Air Apparent.” Where that comparison devastated a host of young up-and-coming players, Mr. James has thrived under that pressure.

“Shooting Stars” is a celebration of basketball savvy and the essence of sports: team. No modern-day player exemplifies the notion of team more than Mr. James. No one man could have beaten the odds when it came to poverty, or instability, or unrealistic expectations. Mr. James not only has risen to the top of his profession, but also has placed his children in the space to be basketball savants.

Whether he chooses to retire this offseason or not, the past two decades of his very public upbringing and ascension have been remarkable. Mr. James and his colleagues took a deliberate approach to basketball that assured that their success was more than just a game of chance, but one of certainty.

It is fitting that wherever Mr. James slipped on a jersey – whether in Akron, Cleveland, Miami, or Los Angeles – there has always been a hint of gold.

Ken Makin is the host of the “Makin’ a Difference” podcast.