LeBron James' 13-year-old son takes unofficial visit with NCAA powerhouse
Among the many greatest-of-all-time honors at this or that basketball accomplishment that LeBron James has accumulated over the years, one of those unofficial titles is greatest NBA player never to have played college basketball.
But since James entered the league in 2003, the NBA instituted what’s commonly known as the “one-and-done” rule, requiring players to be at least one year removed from high school before they can declare for the draft, a year that almost all of the top prospects spend playing basketball in college.
The NBA has talked about removal of the one-and-done rule possibly being on the table for the next collective bargaining agreement set to be hashed out between the league and the players’ union in 2023. But until and unless both sides come together to change the rule as an amendment to the current CBA, every blue chip pro prospect for the next five years will play college basketball if they don’t go to Europe or the G-League.
Enter 13-year-old LeBron James Jr., also known as “Bronny” to differentiate him from his paternal namesake.
LeBron the Younger has grown to nearly six feet tall, still nine inches shorter than his father but an impressively built young man in his own right. He can dunk a basketball in practice and has nearly done so in an actual game, and hits NBA-range three-pointers like he’s Stephen Curry.
All of this led the Duke Blue Devils — the cradle of champions for sons of NBA greats — to invite Bronny to campus for an unofficial visit.
Duke has, in its history, played host to the sons of NBA players great and not-so-great. Currently on the roster is Justin Robinson, son of David Robinson, along with Antonio Vrankovic, son of Stojko Vrankovic, the Croatian who used to smoke cigarettes in the Celtics’ locker room (something Jack McCallum chronicled in his book about the 1990-91 C’s, “Unfinished Business”).
Last year, Gary Trent’s namesake son played for Duke as well.
There in Durham to greet Bronny was Zion Williamson, a guy who’s making noise as a potential first overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft.
“Man it’s cool,” Williamson said. “I’m learning a lot about my body. The days here are long. You wake up around 7:30 and don’t really go to sleep until like 12 because you got homework and if you’re trying to be the best you’ve got to get up extra shots.”
Bronny and his team, the North Coast Blue Chips, got a chance to ball at the K Center practice facility, where the kids engaged in the kind of highlight-reel one-upmanship that explains why fans get so deep into the recruiting process — the game-within-a-game that can decide championships before the schools involved play a single game against each other in the actual season.
Williamson set the standard, nearly landing a 360-dunk attempt that he alley-ooped to himself off the wall of the gym.
Later, fellow Blue Devils freshmen R.J. Barrett, Cameron Reddish and Tre Jones joined the basketball jam session on the floor.
While Duke hasn’t formally offered a scholarship to Bronny — school policy is not to do so — he’s reportedly got an offer in hand already from Kentucky.
But a lot can happen in the next four years as Bronny enters high school. The one-and-done rule might disappear.
And LeBron Senior has said it would be cool to play ball with his son the way Ken Griffey Jr. and Sr. played baseball together in the Mariners’ outfield way back in the day.
Bypassing the college ranks makes it more likely that Junior will be able to join his dad — and that the son can set “greatest player never to go to college” as a goal.
But if all that doesn’t happen, there’s always Coach K and Duke.
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