Do you remember OJ Mayo? 🤔 #nba #nbanews #basketball #lebronjames

Do you remember OJ Mayo? 🤔 #nba #nbanews #basketball #lebronjames

Being called the next LeBron James is supposed to be the biggest compliment you can get, but for this player, it turned out to be a curse. The NBA is always looking for the next best thing. After Magic, there was Jordan. After Jordan, there was Kobe. And back in 2007, they were already looking for the next LeBron James. And for a brief moment, they landed on OJ Mayo. You see, OJ was that guy in high school. Sports Illustrated called him the best high schooler since the king. And he even played pickup games with the guy as a teenager. He had the size, the handles, and the jumper. He was unstoppable at USC and went top three in the 2008 draft. But once he hit the NBA, it all fell apart. He had a solid rookie year in Memphis, but he clashed with his coaches, got into fights with his teammates, and his work ethic just wasn’t there. By 25, he was basically out of the league, and then came the final nail in the coffin, a two-year ban for violating the NBA’s drug policy. In the end, the next LeBron finished with just 13 points a game and he vanished before he turned 30.