LeBron James Gets Torn To Shreds By High School Rival

Before he was an NBA superstar, Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James may have been the most talked-about high school athlete of all time.

During his high school career, LeBron had plenty of rivals, including Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire. But Lenny Cooke may have been his biggest.

Cooke was widely regarded as the top high school basketball player until LeBron's arrival. He was even ranked higher than LeBron and Carmelo in 2001. That changed during the famous ABCD Camp in 2001, when the two stars went head-to-head for the first time. LeBron won and effectively replaced Cooke as the best high school player.

On Tuesday, Cooke joined Joy De'Angela on her social media platform to discuss facing LeBron in the early 2000s. Cooke proceeded to criticize James.

"One thing that you can't teach is heart. [I've] always been a dog. I just feel like he's not a dog. He don't want the ball at the end of the game. He don't want to be judged for making the wrong play. I don't care about making the wrong play. Big decisions, he turns down. I just feel like he doesn't want to be judged," Cooke said.

Cooke, a New York City native, didn't attend college and declared for the 2002 NBA Draft. He received guarantees that he would be picked in the first round by three different teams, but wound up going undrafted.

Cooke did receive the opportunity to play on the Boston Celtics Summer League team in 2003, but it never amounted to anything. He never made an NBA roster after that.

LeBron attended St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. Along with dominating the basketball court for four years, James also made waves on the football field. LeBron was easily the highest-ranked recruit in the 2003 class, but he opted to enter the NBA Draft instead of playing in college. LeBron was selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2003 draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the rest is history.

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