Author Gets Honest About LeBron James, Michael Jordan’s Legacy in New Book
6 hours ago
4,815
What do Steph Curry, Caitlin Clark, Jeremy Lin, Giannis Antetokounmpo, A’ja Wilson, Kobe Bryant, Muggsy Bogues, Lisa Leslie, LeBron James, and Michael Jordan have in common?
All of them played professional basketball in the best leagues available to them at the time — that much is common knowledge among even casual fans.
More news: Three Bold Predictions for NBA Draft: Giannis Trade, 76ers Shakeup and More
More than that, though, each star of the court has something in their personal history to offer children who are picking up the game today.
Michael Jordan and LeBron James hug after the presentation of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on February 20, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. Michael Jordan and LeBron James hug after the presentation of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on February 20, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. Jason Miller/Getty Images
“These players,” author Chris Navalta told Newsweek Sports, “weren’t given opportunities just because of who they were.”
Navalta’s first book, Basketball Stars: Stories and Skills From the NBA’s and WNBA’s Best Players, released Tuesday by Penguin Random House, dives into the back stories of all 10 players. It’s aimed at basketball fans ages 8-12.
More news: Cooper Flagg Reveals His NBA Comparison Without Hesitation Before Draft
The author said he relied on his 13-year-old nephew for inspiration. One tip the youngster wanted to know is conveyed in the book: Every chapter ends with a four-step process for how to do each player’s signature move, from Lin’s floater to LeBron’s spin move.
“The purpose of this book,” Navalta writes, “is so you can gain valuable basketball skills while appreciating the journey all these players have gone through to make it to this level.”
More news: Fred VanVleet Inks Multi-Year Deal to Stay With Rockets
Each journey is a little different, wisely offering something to teach kids from a variety of backgrounds.
Leslie grew up the child of a single parent in inner-city Compton, California. Lin grew up in a wealthy Bay Area suburb, but was not offered any college scholarships, drafted by an NBA team, or even allowed into his first practice with the New Your Knicks (a security guard asked for his employment badge). When he was 6 years old, Bryant moved to Italy, a foreign country whose language he did not understand. Antetokounmpo’s parents, who were Nigerian, were constantly under threats of deportation in Greece.
More news: Jeanie Buss Finally Speaks Out on Lakers’ Record-Breaking Purchase
Although Navalta did not interview his subjects, many of these stories are well-told for adult audiences. James effectively grew up poor, and moved 10 times by his eighth birthday; Jordan did not, but he was cut from his high school’s varsity basketball team as a sophomore, and used that as motivation to improve his game.
Added up, the book offers age-appropriate lessons for children too young to watch every Netflix documentary but old enough to appreciate hard work — and the game of basketball.
Um die besten Erfahrungen zu bieten, verwenden wir Technologien wie Cookies, um Geräteinformationen zu speichern und/oder darauf zuzugreifen. Wenn Sie diesen Technologien zustimmen, können wir Daten wie das Surfverhalten oder eindeutige IDs auf dieser Website verarbeiten. Die Nichteinwilligung oder der Widerruf der Einwilligung kann bestimmte Merkmale und Funktionen beeinträchtigen.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
