LeBron James’s precarity-ridden childhood made him a representative millennial figure

Evidence

One of the first millennials known to Americans was LeBron James. Born in Akron, Ohio, to a sixteen-year-old mother and absent father, James spent his early years in nonmetaphorical precarity. His mother’s boyfriend, whom James called Dad, served three years in prison for cocaine trafficking. James missed nearly a hundred days of fourth grade. Everything changed when he and his mother moved in with a youth sports coach, where he picked up basketball. By his teenage years, James was leading a team of local middle school legends who became high school legends at St. Vincent–St. Mary. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 328