Twenty years after LeBron's debut, Victor Wembanyama enters the NBA spotlight - ESPN

LEBRON JAMES WAS experiencing a big moment, and his veteran teammates wanted to make it memorable, it being his first NBA game and all.

So they asked the 18-year-old rookie if he would take the honor of leading the Cleveland Cavaliers onto the floor for the preseason opener at the Palace of Auburn Hills that early October night in 2003.

James proudly ran out and got ready to start warmups before suddenly realizing he was by himself, a still sparse crowd looking at him awkwardly. Back in the tunnel, his teammates were roaring with laughter. Naïve and embarrassed, James could only shake his head at the joke.

Twenty years later to the week, there was no such hazing for San Antonio Spurs prized rookie Victor Wembanyama when he took an NBA court for the first time earlier this month in Oklahoma City.

His teammates have spoken of Wembanyama in recent weeks not like a kid brother — which is how the Cavs handled James to the point that then-coach Paul Silas occasionally had to step in to defend him like a father figure in the early days — but with a certain amount of awe. Things have changed, it seems, for phenom teenage rookies.

«I think he's just a freak of nature, it's not a normal thing to see,» Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan said. «I'm here to help him.»

«The days of treating [rookies] the same,» veteran Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, «left us long ago.»

COMPARISONS BETWEEN JAMES and Wembanyama are irresistible because of the hype surrounding the two No. 1 overall picks drafted two decades apart.

James was a Sports Illustrated cover subject in 2002 as a high school junior, then entered the NBA with a $90 million Nike contract and «The Chosen One» moniker just as Michael Jordan left. Wembanyama is a social media phenomenon