Shamus/Getty In a book to be released in September, LeBron James writes about smoking pot and the pressures of dealing with stardom as a high school prodigy. LeBron James may not be willing to admit he was dunked on by a college player a couple of weeks ago, but he is ready to acknowledge that he was a pot-smoking "jerk" as a teenager.
In a new book that chronicles his rise from schoolboy prodigy to NBA superstar, James admits that he smoked marijuana with teammates during his junior year and that he struggled to deal with sudden fame after appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a 17-year-old.
"We had become big-headed jerks, me in particular, and we are to blame for that, but so are adults who treated us that way and then sat back and smugly watched the self-destruction," James says in his book, "Shooting Stars," co-authored by Buzz Bissinger, author of best-seller "Friday Night Lights."
James was well-known on the prep level for much of his early high school career, but became a national sensation after appearing in SI as a junior. In the book, to be released in September, James says he and his teammates at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron became "rock stars" and took advantage of their celebrity status.
"I was arrogant, dubbing myself 'The Chosen One,'" James says. "In hindsight, I should have kept quiet, but I also was what I was, a teenager where every reporter in the world seemed to be rushing toward me at once."
Admitting that he and his teammates smoked pot one night after getting access to a hotel room in Akron, James says he was unfairly targeted by the media, which he described as "excited spectators at a car crash" after his mother, Gloria, obtained a loan to buy him a $50,000 Hummer for his birthday. James says his mother, whom he lived with in a rental-assistance apartment, was humiliated by the scrutiny.
"Was the vehicle excessive, with its bank of three televisions? Maybe. Probably. Of course it was," James says. "So were the BMWs parked in the St. V lot, belonging to fellow students. But nobody ever questioned those."
To this point, James has been extremely protective of his reputation. After getting dunked on by college player Jordan Crawford at the LeBron James Skills Academy in Akron earlier this month, James allegedly had a representative from Nike confiscate a tape of the play. However, footage of the dunk surfaced on the Internet Wednesday night.
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