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LeBron James Is 'Sportsman Of The Year,' Says 'Sports Illustrated'

LeBron James, during last summer's Olympics in a game against Spain.
Christian Petersen
/
AFP/Getty Images
LeBron James, during last summer's Olympics in a game against Spain.

This news may not go over so well in Cleveland:

LeBron James, who led the Miami Heat to the NBA championship and Team USA to a gold medal in the London Olympics, is Sports Illustrated's "Sportsman of the Year."

According to SI, James "has morphed from the most imposing small forward in the league to the most dynamic all-around threat in the history of the league."

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who coached Team USA in London, says of James that:

"The game is a house, and some players only have one or two windows in their house because they can't absorb any more light. ... When I met LeBron, he only had a few windows, but then he learned how beautiful the game can be, so he put more windows in. Now he sees the damn game so well, it's like he lives in a glass building. He has entered a state of mastery. There's nothing he can't do. God gave him a lot but he is using everything. He's one of the unique sports figures of all time, really, and he's right in that area where it's all come together."

He's also, of course, the man who broke many hearts in Cleveland when he left the NBA's Cavaliers to join the Heat after the 2009-2010 season.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.

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