Former Cavs teammate shares what’s stayed the same about LeBron from rookie season until now

Perhaps the most impressive thing about LeBron James’ all-time great NBA career has been his longevity. He has been an elite player in the league for more than 20 seasons and ever since he started out his pro career.

One person qualified to speak on James’ sustained brilliance is former NBA player Darius Miles. James and Miles were teammates for part of the former’s rookie season, the 2003-04 season. Miles appeared in 37 games (16 starts) with Cleveland before he was dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers.

The 43-year-old recently revealed what he saw from James during their time together that he still sees now when he watches James play for his current team in the Los Angeles Lakers.

“Right through the gate, I noticed his maturity and how hard he worked,” Miles said of a younger James. “Whether it’s the weight room or it’s the gym — he was already in the gym with a sweat. And for him to be that young, how mature he was — that was crazy to me. I felt he was more mature than me, and I was three years in. I was still not being the ultimate professional. It took me a couple more years to really realize it, but once I kind of got on my own and went to another team, I realized I wasn’t as mature as I thought I was.”

James has displayed an impressive work ethic throughout his NBA career, which has helped in allowing his game to age like fine wine. He’s the NBA’s oldest player right now at 39, yet he’s on the heels of a season in which he averaged 25.7 points per game and was named an All-Star as well as a member of the All-NBA Third Team.

Even if they weren’t teammates for a full season, Miles was fortunate to be on the same team as James for at least part of the latter’s inaugural season in the NBA, which was historic in one way.

James put together one of the best scoring seasons from a first-year player in recent memory. He averaged 20.9 points per game, the fifth-most of any rookie since the 1999-00 season. Carmelo Anthony — who was a member of the 2003 NBA Draft along with James — Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama and Blake Griffin are the only four players who averaged more points as rookies during that time frame.

Plus, after the Cavaliers won just 17 games in the season before they drafted James, Cleveland won 35 contests in James’ rookie season and 42 the season after. Then, in James’ third season in the NBA, he helped the Cavaliers to their first playoff series victory in quite a long time.