North Augusta, S.C. – Bronny James jogs through layup lines on the shiny hardwood floor before his game at Riverview Park Activities Center, bobbing his head and mouthing the words of the song blasting through his golden headphones.
His focus is stoic; impressively so, considering the chaos ensuing around him.
Seconds prior, security at the Nike Peach Jam opened the doors to the gym after keeping spectators at bay for 53 minutes; long enough to form a line that stretched more than four full basketball courts long.
If LeBron James truly is the King, then hundreds of fans bolting through the doors and down a small flight of stairs, and then darting to the bleachers to get optimal seating to see the prince get buckets should fall into the category of an expected outcome.
“Could you imagine being this kid?” one ACC assistant coach says. “I’ve seen some crazy stuff with the sons of NBA legends, but this has got to be the wildest.”
Take the scenario that set up the formation of the line.
The original plan was for Bronny and his Strive For Greatness (Calif.) team to play on Court 1 in the opposite building, and for that reason the gym was at capacity for the undercard game. Midway through the first quarter, event staff began to spread word among the massive contingent of college coaches and NBA scouts looking on that Nike opted to switch to Court 4 to accommodate the swarm. By halftime, the bleachers on Court 1 were 80% emptied.
“I think everyone wants to see what he can do,” says a Big Ten assistant. “And then they want to see it again to make sure.”
The reception for Bronny is overwhelmingly love and reverence from fans of all ages. Blame his dad or his combined 11.8 million followers on Instagram and TikTok or his viral highlight clips, but the connection between fans and the 17-year-old heir apparent seems strangely personal.
Bronny has reached the point where he gets the anticipation “Ooh” from the crowd whenever he touches the ball. The overwhelming majority of the crowd are Strive For Greatness diehards, screaming and cheering with March Madness-like passion.
One particular boy begins frantically pacing around when Strive For Greatness falls behind early, smacking his teeth when the team made miscues and screaming, “Come on man!” when players would turn the ball over.
When asked about his affiliation with Strive For Greatness, he says, “I mean, I guess my affiliation is Bronny.” When asked if he knows Bronny personally, the boy says, “Well … Nah.”
Bronny’s real name is LeBron James Jr., a move LeBron said he regretted on an episode of his HBO series “The Shop” in 2018.
“I still regret giving my 14-year-old my name,” LeBron said in the clip. “When I was younger, obviously, I didn’t have a dad. My whole thing was, whenever I have a kid, not only is he gonna be a junior, but I’m gonna do everything this man didn’t do. Only thing I can do is give them the blueprint and they can take their own course with it.”
To that end, Bronny took it upon himself to change his name, according to LeBron in a more recent episode of “The Shop,” and filed a trademark earlier this year. LeBron said the reason behind the name change was so he could make a name for himself and sidestep the proverbial shadow.
Still, two things can be true: Escaping that cloud is impossible, but securing an identity worked like a charm, ergo the one-way deeply personal connections from strangers. The latter is relative; for all intents and purposes, and whether he wants to be or not, Bronny is a rockstar with all the spoils and then some.
Two burly security guards sit on opposite ends of the Strive For Greatness bench at all times and almost never take their eyes off the crowd. Bronny’s grandmother, Gloria James, splits her time between sitting beside the bench cheering and socializing around the gym, and LeBron, courtside at the majority of Bronny’s games last week, was absent on this seasonably humid day.
Whether that had anything to do with Bronny’s struggles in the game is anyone’s guess, but from misfires to miscues, the 6'5'' point guard had one of those games. He finished with his worst showing of the week – seven points, on 3 of 11 shooting, nine rebounds, four assists and four turnovers in a 73–57 loss to Vegas Elite.
Katie Goodale / USA TODAY NETWORK
It was a stark contrast from his performances all week at Peach Jam. The previous night he dropped 25 points, five assists and 10 rebounds in an overtime win.
Through five games at Peach Invitational, comprised of teams that didn’t qualify for Peach Jam, Bronny was averaging 17.8 points, 5.6 assists and 5.2 rebounds and draining 44% of his three-pointers.
Naturally, that brought a large contingent of college coaches, including Duke’s Jon Scheyer, Memphis’ Penny Hardaway and Alabama’s Nate Oats, among others. Also present were NBA scouts, which begs the million-dollar question: Where is Bronny planning to play after high school?
“Or is he gonna play at all?” an SEC assistant coach says. “I’ve heard everything from he’s going to just workout and post clips for a year to he’s going to go the pro route. Who knows.”
SI polled eight Power 5 head or assistant coaches sitting courtside at his game to see if they were or knew of anyone recruiting him and no one committed to the former or had definitive information regarding the latter.
Bronny has never talked to the media and his camp is admirably skilled in preventing leaks regarding his future plans. It is, however, a curious coincidence that earlier this month in the NBA’s Board of Governors meetings during the NBA Summer League, commissioner Adam Silver reiterated his personal view that the age limit should drop from 19 to 18, and that he's "optimistic" that it could happen during the next collective bargaining cycle, which will happen over the next year.
The operative question then becomes: Is Bronny a high school-to-NBA talent? The answer to that question is as simple as it is complex, but there's no way around it starting out cliché: He’s not his dad.
LeBron was the No. 1 overall player in the 2003 class and went No. 1 overall in the NBA Draft that year. The vast majority of the 39 high school players who went straight to the NBA out of high since 1995, when No. 1 overall player Kevin Garnett re-popularized the move, were in the top-10 range in their respective class.
In the 2023 class, based purely on talent, skill and resume to this point, Bronny wouldn’t be on most analysts’ shortlist to make that type of leap if the change to the age limit takes effect. That said, he’s one of the best players in his class and turned in a strong performance at what most experts agree is the most grueling summer tournament in the world. That part can’t be understated.
“He could be a really good college point guard,” a Big Ten assistant coach says. “He’s got a ways to go before we start talking about the pros just as a prospect. But his last name is his list name. It’s the curse, but for what he wants to do it could be the gift too.”
Jason Jordan/Sports Illustrated
After the game, Bronny sat in a roped-off section and watched the next game with Gloria and a couple of teammates as one of the burly security guards stood in flank position.
“I love you Bronny!” shouts one fan.
“Good game Bronny!” yells another.
It’s unclear whether Bronny hears the outbursts, but he looks up in the general direction and makes a subtle nod before burying his head into a cellphone.
Shortly thereafter, as the pop and hum of the capacity crowd progressively subsides, and unrelated side conversations erase the awe of the proverbial fishbowl, Bronny quietly dips out a backdoor, burly security guard in tow.
The prince has left the building.
