The LeBron generation and those after it

April 21 marked the seventh anniversary of the death of artist Prince.

Thinking of him that day, I said to myself that he would be very disappointed with us. What a waste we have made of this world, since he left – he who had done so much to make it a better place. In particular, I think Prince would find all the attention we’re giving to Elon Musk very strange. He would also certainly be surprised to see the setbacks in his country, among other things in terms of reproductive justice, and those concerning gun control. How would you explain to him what happened at elementary school in Uvalde, at the supermarket in Buffalo or at the synagogue in Pittsburgh?

Her Majesty was a huge sports fan. Originally from Minneapolis, Prince was well served since the city is represented in the major professional leagues of football (the Vikings), baseball (the Twins), hockey (the Wild), and above all, basketball.

It is a sport that he particularly loved and during the broadcast of home games, he could often be seen in the front row cheering on the Timberwolves. Moreover, in the 1990s, he was part of a group of investors who made an unsuccessful offer to buy the team.

Journalist Jeff Benedict recently published Lebron. I think Prince would have loved this book, which is already on the best seller list of the New York Times and which devotes nearly 500 pages to LeBron James, star of the NBA and the Los Angeles Lakers.

It would have been easy for the author to write only about the prowess of the athlete, he who has amazed since he was in high school and who, in 20 years in the NBA, has shattered all kinds of records.

Instead, Jeff Benedict dedicates a significant portion of the book to the how and why of LeBron James’ influence beyond that which he wields on the basketball court.

The influence of LeBron James is defined above all by the causes for which he campaigns, such as equitable access to a good primary education. His legacy will include the I Promise School, which he founded and which opened in 2018, in his hometown of Akron, Ohio.

It was while researching the alarming dropout rate in his former school district one day that the 6-foot-8.5-inch (2m7) giant realized how underserved his community was. Only five years later, I Promise is already a success. Other celebrities have obviously founded schools before, but LeBron James’s is different. In particular, it is public.

As for his idol, the great Michael Jordan, LeBron James’ social awakening came later than many fans and observers hoped. The bar was set high and had been set by other giants of the sports world, such as Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the eternal Laker.

Beijing, 2008.

The 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing. And, like those of winter last year, the choice to have China as host country was problematic. A member of the U.S. national basketball team, LeBron James was one of the Games’ most popular and far-reaching athletes, especially in a country that already had 300 million basketball fans and was a major market for the NBA and for the equipment supplier with whom James had a contract valued, at the time, at nearly 100 million US dollars.

This is perhaps why he had refused to sign a letter initiated by one of his teammates and which denounced China’s involvement in the genocide in Darfur. It was a refusal that became a controversy and the bitter taste it left behind was a turning point for LeBron James.

Shortly after these Games of the XXIX^e Olympiad, LeBron James supported and joined Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. He has kept a close relationship with the one who will become president during his eight years in the White House. It allowed him to educate himself and better understand the issues. But above all, it will allow LeBron James to grasp the social responsibility that comes with his influence. Since then, its implications have been numerous and nationwide in the United States.

Last year, according to the magazine Forbes who keeps that kind of record, LeBron James hit the $1 billion milestone in holdings — making him the first still-active NBA player to become a billionaire. It is not the 82 regular season games that explain this fortune. LeBron has the flair. He brilliantly knew how to diversify his investments and choose with whom to associate.

I am outraged by the insufficient salaries reserved for teachers and nurses. But I am not particularly impressed by the astronomical salaries and incomes of athletes. The latter are part of a very profitable ecosystem and they deserve a generous tip of this very big cake to which they contributed. Creaming included.

Making money and doing good are not mutually exclusive. The faces of philanthropy and social involvement are changing and so are their effects. The difference between Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the LeBron and other athletes of today, whose contracts continue to set precedents, is money. And the more you have, the easier it is to make things happen.

LeBron James is an inspiration to many athletes. There are his four championship rings, of course. But there are many who are just as inspired by his activism. I think of Bennedict Mathurin, a pride made in Quebec, who has been evolving impressively in the NBA for only a year. And yet, already, Mathurin has joined his equipment supplier to make a significant donation to Adélard-Desrosiers, his former elementary school located in Montreal North.

These athletes are also founders and CEOs of the companies that manage their assets and they represent a new business elite perfectly capable of coexisting social involvement and profit. Also, they are no longer limited to demonstrations and meetings with elected officials. They associate themselves with large corporations by not giving them the choice to accompany them in their charitable missions. Those generations who grew up in the era of instant messaging and 24-hour food deliveries no longer necessarily have the patience for the inefficiency and slowness that too often define political action.

Our world confronts us with many incongruities and we are responsible for them. Despite this, not all athletes have to be activists or espouse a cause. For others, these new leaders who transcend their respective sport have charted a course to do things differently. The search for solutions can be complex, but for these gifted, almost superhuman physical abilities, a good barometer is to ask, what would LeBron and Bennedict do? And what would Prince think? These are references that I find reassuring.