LeBron James and 9 other athletes who’ve lived up to their hype since 2000

LeBron James is now a 40-year-old man, making more history just by getting a year older.

The all-time great will become the first player in NBA history to have ever played a game both as a teenager and as a 40-year-old the next time he takes the court. He’s still going strong in his 22nd season, too, averaging 23.5 points and nine assists per game as of his birthday on Dec. 30. 

As if that weren’t impressive enough, James has also exceeded the hype following him around since he entered the NBA in 2003, playing at an All-Star level essentially since he entered the league. But there are other stars who’ve also lived up to the tremendous weight put on their shoulders before they became professionals. Just in the last 14 months, Victor Wembanyama, Paul Skenes and Caitlin Clark have started to meet the sky-high expectations that have been placed on them.

Those three still have a lot of their respective careers to play out, though. So, let’s take a look at James and nine other 21st century professional athletes who’ve made good on, or even surpassed, the expectations surrounding them.

Before entering the WNBA, Parker’s high school accolades included being named the 2003 and 2004 Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year, the only two-time award winner of the USA Today High School Player of the Year, Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year and a McDonald’s All-American. The dunking forward-center then attended Tennessee from 2004-2008. She led the Lady Vols to two consecutive national championships in 2007 and 2008 while also being named the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player in both.

Parker was taken with the first pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks, and broke the WNBA record for points by a rookie in her debut game, knocking down 34 points and adding 12 rebounds and eight assists. Parker was the first WNBA player to be named Rookie of the Year and win the MVP award in the same season, and the seven-time WNBA All-Star and two-time WNBA MVP hoisted the championship trophy three times in her career with the LA Sparks (2016), Chicago Sky (2021) and Las Vegas Aces (2023).

Harper might be the closest thing to baseball’s equivalent to James this century, at least in terms of hype. In fact, Sports Illustrated gave Harper similar treatment that it gave James when he was in high school, putting Harper on the cover of an issue with the “Chosen One” text.

While Harper might not be in the GOAT conversation in his sport like James is, he’s…