Growing up surrounded by his mother and coaches in his hometown of Akron, LeBron James has never admitted that his father abandoned him and his mother.

At least three people have come forward to claim LeBron James as their son, after he became the NBA’s most famous star a decade ago. The first is the family of Roland Bivins, a former basketball player who was murdered when James was eight years old and had no idea he existed.

But when LeBron started to make a splash in the NBA in 2003, the Bivins family immediately claimed that James was their blood relative. Claiming that this was a publicity stunt, LeBron never accepted a DNA test to see if he was Bivins’ son. The incident was quickly forgotten.

Many people have claimed to be LeBron James’ biological father over the past decade. But Anthony McClelland is the name confirmed by James’ mother. Photo: ESPN .

The second person is Bryce Stovell, a Washington attorney. In 2010, he claimed that he slept with James’ mother, Gloria, about a year before the NBA superstar was born. Bryce even provided genetic data to prove he was not lying. However, the results of a DNA test of James’s sample showed that Bryce’s story was completely fabricated.

Finally, and most accurately, Anthony McClelland is LeBron’s real father. Without speaking up, without genetic testing, McClelland was acknowledged by Gloria James herself. The American media, then, conducted many investigative reports on McClelland’s background. The collected data showed that he was almost certainly James’s biological father.

LeBron James and his mother were abandoned during their most difficult times. That’s why the NBA star never intended to meet his biological father. Photo: ESPN .

Gloria James claims that Anthony McClelland was her only sexual partner in the years before LeBron was born. There was no love between them, but they came together to satisfy their physical pleasures. “I couldn’t love a gangster like Anthony. But he was really attractive in that regard. His muscular body and reckless personality made me agree to sleep with him,” Gloria shared in an interview with Time in 2010, when Bryce Stovell claimed to be LeBron’s biological father.

Anthony McClelland fits Gloria’s description perfectly. He’s tall, has a face that closely resembles LeBron James, and has an arrogant personality. Despite living at the bottom of society, McClelland has never sought fame in the press for being the father of LeBron James. The images published in the American press about him are mainly prison photos kept at the local police station.

According to Gloria, when she announced her pregnancy, McClelland made it clear that he had no interest in fatherhood. The Akron rail gang leader was later imprisoned for burglary. A few years later, upon his release, McClelland was involved in drug dealing and nightclub stabbings. His in-and-out stints were countless during LeBron James’ early years.

“He is not the child’s father in the traditional sense. As LeBron always told me, he is only the ‘biological father’. He does not pay attention to LeBron’s existence, because he is still busy with his gangster life. We have not seen each other since I gave birth to LeBron. I have never intended to see him again and never will,” Gloria affirmed.

The world might not have seen LeBron James’ extraordinary talent if his childhood had been peaceful. Photo: AP .

On Christmas Day 2014, LeBron James tweeted to thank McClelland for abandoning him and his mother. “I thank him for not meeting me. Because of him abandoning me, I am who I am today. He helped me go from $10 in my pocket to $100 million in my bank account. I have no reason to meet him, and vice versa,” LeBron declared firmly.

Nearly a decade ago, ESPN first reported on McClelland, with suspicions that the man with a lengthy criminal record was LeBron James’s father. The article claimed that McClelland had intended to meet his famous son, but was arrested before he could do so. However, no one has yet verified this information. At the time, the NBA’s best player simply told ESPN : “I’m going to keep some things far, far away from me.”

Now, Anthony McClelland has completely disappeared and is no longer the target of investigation by NBA reporters in the US. Somewhere, he may still be watching LeBron play every week, winning prestigious awards and making huge amounts of money. McClelland, at some point, may have felt regret for abandoning James and his mother. But after all, if he had not done that, the basketball world would not have had a legend named LeBron James.