LeBron James surprises + greets a Special Olympian midgame (Video)
LeBron James’ contributions on Tuesday night weren’t limited to the 24 points and seven rebounds he gave his Cavaliers in their 84-77 win over the Boston Celtics. They weren’t limited to the highlight fodder he gave us, in hilariously leaking out in the face of Jonas Jerebko in one defensive possession.
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James topped it all by making the day if not year of 16-year old Aaron Miller, a high school golf and basketball athlete who has undergone “thousands of hours of surgery” in order to overcome a medical condition that some doctors thought would paralyze him for life. James noticed the tail end of a presentation celebrating Miller’s achievements during a timeout, and raced over to greet the young man:
From Chris Forsberg at ESPN Boston:
“I wasn’t able to hear the whole story because I was in the game and Coach was drawing up the play,” James said. “But I looked up by the JumboTron and I saw what [Miller had] been through and where he is now. I think the doctor said he would never walk again or talk again. … I looked up there and right from there, it became so much more than basketball.”
After noticing that Miller was wearing a version of his signature shoe, LeBron topped the night off by giving him a pair of his signature sneakers:
“He also had my shoes on,” James said. “I designed those shoes for kids with conditions where they can’t tie their own shoestrings, and he had a pair on. Those shoes that he had on are made for kids that can’t tie their own shoes, and it’s just one strap. When I saw his story, it was just like, I don’t know, I felt like I was a part of him. Just showing my respect, gave him my shoes. It was well received by him. It was not for you guys or the fans. It was for him.”
LeBron James remains the best end-to-end athlete in sports.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
