LeBron Recalls HS Coach Telling Him to 'Get the F--k Out of' Practice as a Sophomore

As LeBron James has gotten older, he's developed a unique dynamic with his coaches, almost serving as a coach himself as well as being a player.

But the Los Angeles Lakers star hasn't always had that privilege. On his podcast, Mind the Game, he shared a story about being humbled by his high school coach following his freshman year.

"My freshman year, I made All-County, All-City, All-State. We didn't lose a game my freshman year, we won the state championship, I was state championship MVP for the tournament, and so I come in first practice my sophomore year, I'm kind of feeling myself a little bit," James said (17:30 mark). "We won it all, I'm getting a little praise or whatever. First day of practice my sophomore year, he kicked me out of practice. He looked at me and said, 'Best sophomore in the country my a--. Get the f--k out of here.' He kicked me out of practice my sophomore year."

While the high school version of James didn't understand at the time, he said his coach, Keith Dambrot, who went on to coach at Akron and Duquesne, taught him a valuable lesson by kicking him out of practice.

"I was obviously pissed off. Like what the f--k is wrong with you," he said. "But he set the tone for that season. Like, 'I'm not even going to allow you to think about getting overly confident or having a big head coming in here. Cause this s--t is not about you. It's about what we're trying to build.' And he knew like, 'You are the guy, but I'm not about to give you no indication that you are.' A lot of the things I learned from him I still use to this day."

Things clearly worked out for James as he went on to be a four-time champion, four-time MVP and the NBA's all-time leading scorer, and he can thank his high school coach for teaching him a lesson about being humble.