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Finally, the LeBron James/'Hamilton' mashup the culture demanded

LeBron James celebrates during the Cleveland Cavaliers' 2016 NBA championship victory parade and rally. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
LeBron James celebrates during the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 2016 NBA championship victory parade and rally. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)

Sure, Matthew Dellavedova’s going to have a movie made about his life, but his former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate LeBron James has already been there and done that when it comes to motion-picture projects. No, the next frontier for the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player, three-time league champion and burgeoning multimedia mogul is to go from screen to stage … or, at least, that’s how the folks at Dose see it.

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The online media company took a look at two things that people know very well and that generate an awful lot of emotion, whether good or ill — LeBron and “Hamilton: An American Musical” — and decided to mix peanut butter and chocolate to create a morsel of fried Internet gold. Check out “LeBron: The Musical,” a 4 1/2-minute adaptation of the story of LeBron’s life and career thus far set to the backing track from “Alexander Hamilton,” the opening number of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash-hit cultural phenomenon of a show:

The production hits the highlights of James’ biography, from his childhood in Akron and the St. Vincent-St. Mary days through his explosion onto the NBA scene, “The Decision,” his run to four NBA Finals and two championships with the Miami Heat, his eventual return to Cleveland and last year’s epic seven-game victory over a Golden State Warriors team led by Stephen Curry — who, in this telling, cleverly occupies the Aaron Burr role of both introducing us to the star of the show and informing us that he intends to take another shot at the King (with his trusty mouthguard, natch). It might not be “Hamilton” proper, but with that show sold out through this time next year, it’s a hell of a lot easier to get your eyeballs on this, and it’s pretty fun to boot.

For what it’s worth, the Dose crew aren’t the first folks to envision LeBron treading the boards in this particular context:

… and, while Miranda makes no bones about his relative lack of hardwood expertise, he has in the past used LeBron as a reference point and touchstone when it comes to polishing his own skills. From a July 2015 interview with AmericanTheatre.org:

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With Hamilton such a massive success, are you nervous about your next project?

No. What was fun after In the Heights is I just went and did a bunch of jobs that I knew I was going to learn from—West Side Story, working with Stephen Schwartz on Working, Bring It On with Tom [Kitt] and Amanda [Green]. I got like five new moves out of that. Tom and I have been friends for a long time, but it’s different when you’re in the room and you’re making the thing together. And watching Amanda and the way she approached lyric writing, I learned moves from her. So I will just keep doing that. LeBron James goes and works on whatever he’s weakest at in the off season, and that’s what I’m going to go do.

Given how LeBron’s game has evolved over the years, one wonders if this coming offseason might present an opportunity for the King to work on his kick-ball changes and jazz hands should the chance to link up with Lin-Manuel ever arrives. Yes, both parties are plenty busy, but it always pays to be prepared; you don’t want to throw away your shot, after all.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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