Time - USA (2020-12-21)

OF THE YEAR

Athlete

LEBRON JAMES

On the way to another

NBA title, he transformed

what an athlete can be

By Sean Gregory

At 11:58 A.m. on June 8, LeBron JAmes Logged on to A video
call from the living room of his Los Angeles–area home. As the
clock hit noon, James, who abhors tardiness, took command of
a virtual meeting that included more than 20 top athletes, enter-
tainers and political pros. He set a serious tone: across the coun-
try, people were filling the streets to march against racial injustice
and demand systemic change. What could this group do about it?
James had the answer, and it wasn’t another celebrity PSA: an
all-star coalition committed to pushing back against the suppres-
sion of Black voters. To lay out the severity of the problem, Michi-
gan secretary of state Jocelyn Benson detailed how disinformation
campaigns attempt to lower turnout. Golden State Warriors forward
Draymond Green expressed discomfort about encouraging others
to be politically engaged since he himself had not voted since 2008.
But such stories, he was assured, were exactly the point. Green’s
experience could inspire others to vote for the first time, or return
to the polls as he would. On a follow-up call 10 days later, comedian
Kevin Hart asked if they would all be receiving Black Panther berets.
Hart was joking, but he spoke to the urgency with which
James was approaching the cause. The moment required a
movement, and LeBron James, the greatest basketball player
of his generation— arguably of any generation—and one of the
most prominent Black men in the world, would lead the way.
“That was my initial call to action,” James tells TIME in late No-
vember, “to let people know what my mission was, what my

ILLUSTRATION BY VICTORIA CASSINOVA FOR TIME