King for a Day

There was the high school god -- 6'8", 240-pound senior LeBron James -- sitting on the bench.

And here was the high school nobody -- 5'7 1/2", 150-pound junior Brandon Weems -- taking James's spot in the starting lineup.

If you squinted you could see a couple of slight differences.

James plans on being the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. Weems plans on watching the NBA draft.

James drives a $75,000 Hummer. Weems doesn't have a car. He doesn't even have a license.

James has a squadron of security guards, 781 listings bearing his name on eBay and a strict no-autographs-during-school policy. Weems also has a strict autograph policy: If anybody ever asks him, he plans on signing.

But Weems had one thing on Sunday that James did not -- his high school eligibility.

James blew his (pending a possible appeal to the Ohio High School Athletic Association) when he accepted two free throwback jerseys ($845 value) from a Cleveland store on Jan. 25. Never mind that James has already been seen wearing at least a dozen throwback jerseys -- including Jim Brown's, Pete Maravich's and Joe Namath's -- for some reason he felt it was essential to have two more, Gale Sayers' and Wes Unseld's.

So Weems became the first player in four years at St. Vincent- St. Mary High in Akron to start in place of LeBron James. It was an odd sight: the one they call King James, in a gorgeous cream-colored suit and blinding bling-bling, rooting for the hobbit they call Dreamer, whose mother won't let him wear earrings and who doesn't own a necklace.

Of course the whole day at the University of Akron's sold-out Rhodes Arena was bizarre. Fans heckled Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Susan Vinella, whose paper broke the free-jerseys story. One woman held up a big sign that read, ohsaa, came from chicago to see lebron -- please refund airline tickets. And there was the confused out-of-town fan who was overhead to say, "Why don't they get the tall kid to go out for the team?"

Ten TV cameras, 15 writers and Deion Sanders, reporting for CBS's The Early Show, followed James's every move on the bench. Weems meanwhile went unnoticed while helping his team beat Canton McKinley High, 63-62. He scored four points. James used to have that many getting off the bus.

"That was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life," said Weems, a 4.0 student this season. He would love to study marketing and play for Duke someday, but has only received letters from schools like Lake Forest and Lehigh. "I mean, those were some impossible shoes to fill, but LeBron told me to go out and play hard for him."

LeBron might've been out there playing hard for himself if he had something that Weems had: better parental guidance. James has never met his biological father, and the man who served as a father figure, Eddie Jackson, is in jail for mortgage fraud. That leaves James in the hands of his eccentric mother, Gloria, who bought him the Hummer to begin with and who, during a blowout recently, paraded in front of the visiting team's fans holding high a picture of her son.

"Brandon's a good boy," said Weems's father, Darrell, a supervisor at an aluminum factory. "He understands what rules are."

Of course, Brandon hasn't spent the last two years having people convince him he's the greatest thing to happen to basketball since somebody cut the bottoms off the peach baskets. As one sticker on eBay says, who died and made you lebron james?

Wouldn't you think you were rule-proof if: a) Your games were televised on ESPN2 and regional pay-per-view, and moved to bigger arenas to cash in on larger gates? b) You were on the cover of SI as a high school junior? c) You worked out with Jordan, had Shaq's cell number and AI came to see you play? d) Your school accepted huge appearance fees, plus all expenses, to have your team appear in Philadelphia; Los Angeles; Greensboro, N.C.; and Trenton, N.J.? e) You had your own bobblehead doll?

So maybe James's high school career is over, and maybe it should be, so he can just get on with the drudgery of signing Nike's or Adidas's $25 million shoe contract. (Bet on Nike.) Or maybe it's not over, and he will get an injunction or win an appeal and play in Trenton on Saturday. James wasn't talking to anybody but Neon Deion. But for one day at least, tiny Brandon Weems had one thing LeBron James wanted -- another high school basketball game.

"It was real emotional for 'Bron the last two days," said Weems. "At practice [two days before] we could even see tears in his eyes. I mean, they took away from him the thing he loves most -- basketball ... I don't know ... sometimes I feel sorry for him."

Maybe he should. King James traded 11 teammates for two jerseys. From here on out, basketball is a job. He gets the bazillions, but he's stuck with the relentless attention and the helium-filled expectations. Dreamer, meanwhile, is looking at a full senior year, college and a future that stretches out blissfully unplanned.

And remember, the kid has a 4.0 and loves marketing. You think LeBron might need an agent?

Issue date: February 10, 2003

Sports Illustrated senior writer Rick Reilly pens the weekly Life of Reilly column in the magazine.

 

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