I remember when I was 13-14 thought I was pretty good and played a one on one against a guy in his early 30's who was shorter than me but had played social league his whole life and was teaching kids at another school and he killed me.
Right, but the average adult male doesn't play much basketball at all let alone a lifetime of social league. By 12, LeBron would be taller and have far better speed and skills than the average male. You watch the average person called out of the crowd for half time entertainment, and many would struggle to make a layup let alone shoot/contain someone. They could bully him, but could they dribble without him stealing the ball? I'm not so sure.
Zodiac, you're crazy. By 15-16, LeBron would destroy the average male. Wasn't he dunking at 13?
This info comes from the r/NBA thread about the same hypothetical - someone a played LeBron when he was younger:
I was 18. A senior, decent athlete, a few D3 offers, a few "preferred walk on" for some D1 schools. I was 6'3-6'4 and 180-190 pounds. He was 13-14 years old, and and near the same size as I was.. but enormous feet, long arms, but lanky. Probably weighed... 170?
I'll try to keep it somewhat short... I could hold my own against him, only because he was very, very raw. I feel my game was as polished as it could be, while he was still just getting things figured out. We both ended the game with similar stat lines, but the X factor was just the raw explosiveness and athleticism... something you honestly can't account for when talking about size, weight and even age.
I'm sure alot of you have played basketball, maybe even lately.. but you know that first few possessions of the game? Sizing things up.. who can move, who can shoot, how are they guarding us.... Lebron was already on a different planet in terms of just sheer velocity. He could just get off of his feet, make a cut, or grab a rebound while I'm still flat footed. He didn't have springs in his legs.. he had trampolines. I had played against alot of tier 1 talent at that point at 5-Star and Blue Chip camps, but the odd thing is.. I knew IMMEDIATELY that this guy was something different.. and that isn't just hindsight.
Same guy:
I was at a party once in Akron where the cops showed up (in high school). I was sitting next to Lebron on the couch and he looked at me and said "don't worry man.. I'm here, it will be fine".
And it was. He was 14.