Things got weird for star LeBron James on Sunday night, in the Los Angeles Lakers win over the Memphis Grizzlies. James got the opportunity to face off against Ziaire Williams, former high school teammate of James’s son Bronny James, at Sierra Canyon.
James acknowledged just how strange it was to face off against the next generation to reporters after the Los Angeles Lakers beat Williams’ Memphis Grizzlies. “I looked at Ziaire a couple times and was just shaking my head inside,” James told reporters. “Just remembering a year and a half ago, two years, not even a full two years, he was hitting a game-winner to send them to the state championship alongside my son, and going to the game and supporting Sierra Canyon, and one year at Stanford and now he’s here, so it’s a weird dynamic for myself to see something like that but happy for the kid, obviously. But I had a moment for sure.”
James is the seventh oldest player in the league, so he’s going to have to get used to that feeling. Another one of Bronny’s ex-high school teammates plays in LeBron’s own city, Brandon Boston Jr., a second-round pick out of Kentucky who also played at Sierra Canyon with James Jr.
If one looks down the line, things are going to get even weirder for King James. The G League draft was last week, and the tenth overall pick was Zaire Wade, son of James’ former teammate Dwyane Wade. He’s also a Sierra Canyon alum and was just picked No. 10 overall in the G League Draft by the Salt Lake City Stars. If he makes it to the NBA, James would not only have to face off with one of his son’s former teammates but the son of one of his closest friends.
Looking down the line, James will almost certainly face off against Sierra Canyon’s top prospect from the class of 2022, Amari Bailey, when he reaches the NBA in a few years. Bailey currently ranks No. 6 in his class according to 247Sports and is headed to UCLA. A year later, the top recruit in Bronny’s own class of 2023 is DJ Wagner, son of Dajuan Wagner, who played with James in his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
