LeBron and Bronny eerily similar to Kobe and Gigi: Hug your kids, Lakers superstar says | Bronny comes to N.J. next week

lebron james

Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James, wearing a No. 24 jersey, speaks about Kobe Bryant prior to an NBA game between the Lakers and the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, in Los Angeles. Bryant, the 18-time NBA All-Star who won five championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career with the Lakers, died in a helicopter crash Sunday. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)AP

After the death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter, LeBron James has a newfound appreciation for his three children, including budding basketball prodigy Bronny James, who will play with his Sierra Canyon (Calif.) team in New Jersey next weekend.

James said it’s important for everyone — not just him — to hug and value their family members after Kobe and Gianna Bryant were among the nine people tragically killed last Sunday in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif.

“Just make sure you hug the s—- out of your family,” LeBron said after the Lakers beat the Trail Blazers on Friday night in their first game since Bryant’s death. “If you got kids, tell your kids you love them. Try to make it to as much as you can.”

James’ relationship with 15-year-old Bronny parallels Kobe’s relationship with 13-year-old Gianna, known as Gigi.

Bryant said in 2018 that Gianna was “hellbent” on playing basketball at UConn and hoped to eventually play in the WNBA. Kobe supported her dreams, taking her to her own games as well as professional ones. They were on their way to a tournament at Mamba Sports Academy, a training facility in Thousand Oaks, Calif., along with one of Gianna’s teammates, Payton Chester, and her mother, Sarah, when the helicopter crashed.

“These last three years, out of all the success he had, five rings, multiple MVPs and All-Star Game MVP of this league, first-team everything, all-life, all-world, all-basketball, it felt like these last three years was the happiest I [have] ever seen him,” James said. “I think we all can say that, like the happiest I’ve ever seen him. Being able to just be with his daughters, be with his family, because when we playing this game of basketball, we give so much to it. And this is my 17th year, so I know.”

LEBRON’S BOND WITH BRONNY

LeBron has tried to support Bronny, a 6-foot-2 freshman guard, by helping out with the Sierra Canyon team that will play in the Metro Classic Friday and Saturday nights at RWJBarnabas Health Arena in Tom River and by attending games whenever he can. But playing an 82-game schedule in the NBA comes with a price.

“When you want to be great at something and you want to be the best at something, you become so driven that you won’t let nothing stand in the way of it, not even your own family sometimes” James said.

“And we could get compared all the time to greatness. And that makes us even more driven and even more shadowed away from our own family. So that’s the difficult part that we deal with as professional athletes when you want to be great.”

On Jan. 20, when the Lakers were playing in Boston, LeBron took time out to go see Bronny and Sierra Canyon at the prestigious Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass., an event that also featured New Jersey teams The Patrick School and Roselle Catholic.

Word got out that James was coming to see his son play, and organizers over-sold the event to the point that it was a fire hazard. LeBron sat — and stood — on one end of the court surrounded by a group of local police offers and security personnel. Fans ogled him and snapped pictures throughout the game, which Sierra Canyon lost to Paul VI (Va.), 70-62.

The game in Springfield wasn’t without incident, though. During the third quarter, a fan threw something at Bronny as he inbounded the ball and the game was temporarily stopped. The official called security over but no one was ejected.

Still, Sierra Canyon coach Andre Chevalier remains impressed with how Bronny handles the spotlight that comes with being LeBron’s son. Sierra Canyon had two beefy security guards stationed outside their locker room in Springfield to deal with any potential issues.

“[He handles it] amazingly,” Chevalier told NJ Advance Media. “I’m a little bit jealous that at age 15, that he knows how to handle this situation and understand it and stay focused and work on his craft.”

The Lakers lost later that night to the Celtics so both members of the James family were dealt defeats that day, but that wasn’t the point for LeBron.

“Don’t feel bad if you happen to go to one of your loved ones’ events or something like that, sacrifice your job, because I didn’t feel bad in Boston when I went to see my son two hours away in Springfield and we had a game that night and we got our ass kicked,” James said. “But I didn’t feel bad at all.”

David Kessler, an expert on grief whose youngest son died suddenly at 21 years old in 2016, said it’s not uncommon for people to bond more with their own children after a sudden death.

“I remember someone telling me when you become a parent, you only have two nightmares, you die or your kids die,” Kessler said by phone. “And unfortunately in Kobe’s case, we had both, we had a child and we had a parent. So I think for parents, it makes you reevaluate and look at your relationship with your kids. It is good, is it quality? Do we have the right goals because you look at, what if I’m gone tomorrow? Are they ready? And what if they’re gone tomorrow, am I going to feel OK about that?”

As for LeBron’s relationship with Bronny and his team, Ziaire Williams, an uncommitted senior forward at Sierra Canyon, says LeBron does more than just come to games. It was a little surreal when he first started coming to practices but now they see him as another coach-like figure.

“It’s cool for sure, we all look up to him,” Williams said in Springfield. “I know it sounds crazy, you really don’t even feel like it’s LeBron. He just does a good job of giving us knowledge or instinct, like it’s coming from a friend. So it’s awesome, for sure.”

LeBron’s involvement with the whole team might be surprising to some considering Bronny is hardly the star of the team. He comes off the bench, as does Zaire Wade, the 6-3 senior point guard who is the son of former NBA star Dwyane Wade.

The real stars of the team are Williams, Kentucky-bound senior wing B.J. Boston, and sophomore guard Amari Bailey.

Still, James appeared at a practice shortly before the Hoophall Classic last month.

“He came to our practice a few days ago and he was just telling us the things we need to work on, when we’re up we have energy but when we’re down we kind of shake up and he was just telling us to relax,” Williams said. “He just gives us great knowledge.”

On Tuesday, LeBron was at Sierra Canyon for the team's final home game. Bronny and his teammates honored Kobe in their final home game by taking 24-second and 8-second violations. Bronny also wore a pair of Kobe sneakers with messages on them honoring Kobe and "Lil Sis" Gigi.

SIERRA CANYON GETS THE STAR TREATMENT

The combination of star power at Sierra Canyon — highlighted by the presence of Bronny James — resulted in ESPN featuring the team on its platforms more than a dozen times this year. Their victory over Jonathan Kuminga and the Patrick School on Jan. 3 in Minnesota was shown on ESPN2 and their game against Paul VI at the Hoophall was on ESPNU. Their two games in Toms River — against Gill St. Bernard’s Friday and Long Island Lutheran Saturday — will be shown on ESPN3.

“There are more cameras on Sierra Canyon than on half of the NBA teams,” ESPN recruiting director Paul Biancardi said on air during the Patrick School game.

As for their upcoming appearance in New Jersey, a ticket presale began in January and the event is already sold out.

LeBron isn’t expected to be in attendance because the Lakers play at Golden State on Saturday, but Long Island Lutheran coach John Buck said everyone and their brother was asking him for tickets.

“I’ll tell you what, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Buck said. “I have former teammates that I played with when I went to LuHi that haven’t come to one LuHi game that are asking me for tickets to that. And I said, ‘Guys, come on.’”

Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.

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