LeBron James Jr. is taking after his famous father when it comes to basketball, and the 13-year-old star is already getting the attention of college programs. He is turning out to be so popular, that bookmaker.eu has put odds on what university he will go to.
Never mind that he is five years away from his freshman year, the internet sportsbook has started speculating where he will commit. The favorite is Duke, where he is at -144 to play for coach Mike Krzyzewski.
The longtime Blue Devils coach has a relationship with James Sr., having coached him on the US National Team. Whether or not that is enough to convince his son to go to Durham remains to be seen.
It is also rumored that James Jr., who is nicknamed Bronny, is being courted by Kentucky. They are the next pick at +168. The teenager’s father also has a good relationship with Wildcats coach John Calipari.
Teenager Attracting Wild Attention
If James Jr.’s middle school choice was any indication, when he gets ready to announce where he’ll go to college will be a social media frenzy. When the family moved to California, there was huge speculation on where he would be enrolled for eighth grade.
Before James even signed with the Lakers, people had assumed the family was coming to Southern California. The next question after would James choose Los Angeles was where would his eldest son go to school. Ex-Laker Gary Payton created a stir earlier this summer when he said Bronny would be attending Sierra Canyon in Los Angeles. Former Duke star Marvin Bagley III went there, as did the sons of former NBA players, Scottie Pippen and Kenyon Martin.
The family, however, opted for Crossroads in Santa Monica, a private middle and high school where Shaquille O’Neal’s second son, Shaqir will be a sophomore, and his eldest son, Shareef, just graduated and moved on to UCLA.
Protective Father Has One Dream
James Sr. would like to see his son take the route he did and go directly to the NBA from high school. With NBA Commissioner Adam Silver saying he believes the one and done rule will be removed soon, the two could end up on an NBA roster together for a year. If that would happen, James Sr. would be 39-years-old, but he tweeted that it would be a highlight of his career.
“Want to ask me what is the greatest achievement of my life? If I’m on the same court as my son in the NBA,” James tweeted. “That would be the number one in my lifetime as an NBA player. I’ve thought about it because my son is about to be 14, and might get there a little earlier.”
For now father is happy watching his son play in AAU games, though he has said it is tough for him to control his emotions when his son is on the court. He recently talked about an incident at one of his son’s games on his HBO show, The Shop.
“I didn’t get in an argument with an AAU dad, I got into an argument with an AAU mom,” James said. “You want to know the first person I apologized to? My mom, who was sitting right here. The reason I apologized to my mom, because I used to get on my mom so much when I was a kid and she used to go crazy at my AAU games.”