LeBron James and Mike Gansey’s viral high school photo still resonates ahead of return to Cleveland: ‘It’s just surreal’

CLEVELAND — The group of Northeast Ohio high school basketball players gathered in the downtown warehouse district for a 2000 all-area team photoshoot for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Wearing their school’s jerseys, they swapped stories about AAU matchups and times they crossed paths in open gyms. That 10 of them were there, instead of the typical five selected by the newspaper, felt like a testament to that season’s immense talent.

“When that photo came out and they picked that team,” Chester Mason, that year’s co-Ohio Mr. Basketball, recently recalled to The Inquirer by phone, “I’m like, ‘Man, this is the greatest team, I believe, from Northeast Ohio that was ever assembled.’”

That photo, snapped more than a quarter-century ago, approximately 400 miles away from Philadelphia, has become popular with 76ers followers because of the two players posing on the far right.

The forearm of Mike Gansey, then an Olmsted Falls junior who is now the Sixers’ president of basketball operations, is resting on the shoulder of LeBron James, then a freshman at Akron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary and on the cusp of exploding into arguably the best player of all time.

James and Gansey already shared a full-circle moment, when they won a dramatic 2016 NBA championship with their hometown Cleveland Cavaliers as a superstar player and rising executive, respectively. But that photo didn’t resurface until Gansey’s younger brother, Steven, posted it on X (formerly Twitter) with the eyeballs emoji on the night of July 1. It was a less-than-stealth recruiting pitch to then-free agent James after the Sixers acquired All-NBA talent Jaylen Brown in a stunning blockbuster trade earlier in the day.

James did choose the Sixers, meaning both men will return to Cleveland together for the first time for Friday night’s matchup against the Cavaliers at Rocket Arena. And some who remember James and Gansey as teenagers — and that now-famous photo — still marvel at the foreshadowing, along with how it represents their basketball roots.

“It’s just surreal,” said Mason, who was nicknamed “Chet the Jet” while starring at Cleveland South, “that all of [these] years later, they’re able to link up. And now they’re over there in Philly and [trying] to do some special stuff. …

“Like I tell my kids, the memories last forever. So that picture right there, no matter what, I can always say, ‘I was in that photo with arguably the best NBA basketball player ever, and one of the best young execs in the business, in the NBA.’”

» READ MORE: LeBron James chose the Sixers in his ‘final decision.’ Now he’s bringing a championship ‘blueprint’ to Philly.

Others in that photo includ Maverick Carter, James’ longtime business partner. And Brian Swift, who played collegiately at South Florida and professionally in Europe before going into coaching. Mason — who played professionally overseas and in the G League for more than a decade, then became a coach at Brush High School and with USA Basketball — says today that they all represented “the grit, the grind, and the tough mentality” that he imagines is similar to Philly’s basketball scene.

Pat Donahue, Gansey’s coach at Olmsted Falls, commended those players for being great players and great people.

“If you said, ‘These two kids are transferring to Olmsted Falls,’” Donahue told the Inquirer by phone, “I would be like, ‘Great.’ And not necessarily because they would help the basketball team, although they would, but because they were great individuals. They were just really good people, and I can’t say that about every kid I’ve ever seen play.”

When asked earlier this week about the day of that photoshoot, James said he most remembers feeling out of place among upperclassmen he had admired while watching in AAU tournaments and other high school games.

“Why was I there?” James recalled following the Sixers’ win over the Chicago Bulls Monday night. “ ... It was so surreal for me.”

Mason, who has known James since sixth grade, assures the future Hall of Famer was “just being modest.” At that age, James already boasted the frame and athleticism of a college-ready player — along with the basketball IQ that remains a signature trait at age 41.

“If anybody practiced with him, they know exactly what I’m talking about,” Mason said. “ … How he dissects basketball. He remembers stuff. He knows where everybody is supposed to be. He knows what you’re supposed to be doing, even if it ain’t his position.”

Gansey also had a strong reputation among his peers. Though Donahue often encouraged Gansey to shift into score mode, Mason remembers that Gansey “knew how to put the ball in the basket” and “had that swag” despite being from the suburbs.

“It was like, ‘No, you’re going to have to play tonight, and he got game,’” Mason said of Gansey. “He could do everything that you could do on the court.”

Added James: “We all knew about [Gansey] in Akron.”

Donahue chuckles today that the group photo is “not the most flattering picture of Mike,” his teenage face clearly trying to appear tough. The coach also remembers including it in a scrapbook he made for all players who came through his program featuring newspaper clippings and other mementos.

So when brother Steve posted it on the internet, Donahue immediately called to ponder if “that was the smartest thing to do.” The “very unfiltered” Steve told his former coach that Mike “handled it very, very well.” As it rapidly spread across social media, Mason was among those who quoted it, calling it a “Classic Legendary Photo” with three fire emojis.

After all, Mason has the newspaper version laminated and hanging in his office at Brush, where he has been the boys basketball head coach since 2015. As students pass through year after year, their “you knew LeBron in high school?!” reaction remains consistent.

They have continued to cross paths since then. Mason was invited to Cavaliers training camp in 2007, during James’ first stint with the organization. Then when James and Gansey were both part of the organization nearly a decade later, James said he “knew [Gansey] had the makings” of a future NBA lead executive.

» READ MORE: Mike Gansey had to ‘climb the ladder’ to become the Sixers’ president. Those closest to him say it ‘hasn’t changed him’

Mason and Gansey still regularly text, including a long “proud of you” message sent by Mason when Gansey got the Sixers’ top job and then landed James and Brown. When James was with the Los Angeles Lakers, Mason brought his son to a game in Cleveland and still felt love from his childhood pal. Mason still jokes that he has “little bragging rights” for being the co-Mr. Basketball in that 2000 photo, before James won that award the next three years.

“I can always say, ‘Man, I got my boy for one,’” Mason said. “Ain’t nobody beat ‘Bron in a lot of stuff, right?”

Who then finished second to James for that award in 2001? Gansey. They won a title with the Cavaliers a decade ago. Now, they have reunited again as Sixers — and are about to return to their basketball roots together.

Roots captured by a photo that resonates with basketball followers in Northeast Ohio and Philly.

“It’s just amazing,” Mason said. “I know every time somebody posts it, it’s going to go viral.”