Author Gets Honest About LeBron James, Michael Jordan's Legacy in New Book
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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.
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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."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.
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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."
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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.
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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.
For more NBA news, visit Newsweek Sports.
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