LeBron James was a star in high school while playing for St Vincent St Mary's. LeBron eventually went on to be drafted straight out of high school with the first overall pick. Since then, James has gone on to become one of the best players in NBA history, winning three NBA titles and going to nine NBA Finals. While James was in high school, his games were sold out and sometimes even made their way to Pay Per View. The school was able to make money off of James' name, but he never saw a dime.
During an appearance on Kevin Durant's The Boardroom on ESPN +, LeBron spoke about the exploitation of young athletes, using his experience as the catalyst for the discussion.
"Freshman year to my sophomore year they moved our home games to the [University of Akron]... My first game of my sophomore year was at the University of Akron and there like 6,000 people... and they sell season tickets," LeBron said. "Right then and there as a sophomore at 15-years-old I knew that this was a business."
KD also had a lot to say on the issue, explaining how he used to see his college jersey being sold but not making a single dollar from the sales.
"I seen a 35 jersey on the rack and I'm just wondering like, why my name's not on the back of it," KD explained. "Everybody knows this is my jersey and it was just kind of confusing at that point because it was this in between period where it was like is this always about ball or they might be making money on the other side of this too. So I didn't know who to turn to, I had no guidance, and I was going to the NBA the next year. So it was like, I just want to play ball."
To watch the full episode, you can head over to the ESPN website here.