That time 18 year old LeBron turned down $10 million

Came across this today...

... when James was in high school he took a meeting with former Reebok chairman and CEO Paul Fireman. In the meeting, Fireman offered James $10 million upfront to sign with Reebok and not talk to Nike or Adidas... "I still can't believe I left that $10 million."

I'm not the biggest NBA fan (NCAA basketball over NBA all day), but I never understood all the LeBron haters. I mean sure, every sports star has their fair share of haters and maybe I missed something, but it seems like the LeBron haterade is abundant.

While his decision to turn down the $10 million ended up being one of his smartest (he would go on to sign his first deal with Nike and that was reportedly worth $90 million), the amount of self control LeBron had in that situation is astonishing. He grew up in the inner city, raised by a single mother who had him when she was 16. In the same situation, I honestly think it would've been incredibly hard for me to turn that money down. What are your thoughts?

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