As a Brooklyn-born sports journalist with Puerto Rican roots, I’ve seen it too: even legends crash before they rise. This isn’t about luck—it’s about resilience coded in silence. In this piece, I dissect how three career-defining failures shaped icons like LeBron and Spurs—not as setbacks, but as secret turning points. What makes a champion isn’t their glory, but their grit in the dark. You’ve asked how they got here? Let me show you.