LeBron James had an eventful weekend in Las Vegas as he watched his 14-year-old son, LeBron “Bronny” James Jr., win a national title with the North Coast Blue Chips travel team.
Yet, as videos of LeBron throwing down dunks in the layup line and enthusiastically cheering on dunks went viral, that behavior somehow became a story in itself.
Come Monday, talking heads like Jason Whitlock and various Barstool Sports personalities called out LeBron for being so heavily involved in the action. But in doing so, they overlooked what LeBron’s enthusiasm actually meant for the kids playing the games.
Top 2022 guard Dior Johnson — who got LeBron celebrating on the court with a between-the-legs, alley-oop pass — explained exactly why he loved LeBron’s energy after a tweet from Barstool Sports’ Kevin Clancy called the Lakers star a “weirdo.”
Johnson pointed out that he hadn’t seen his father in four years, which put into perspective how awesome it was for him to have arguably the best player on the planet cheering him on like he was LeBron’s own son. Johnson added that Bronny wasn’t even suited up for that Strive For Greatness game, and he was still that excited.
No matter how much talking heads want to compare LeBron to a regular AAU dad running on the court, he isn’t a regular AAU dad. He is LeBron freaking James.
The players recognize how cool that enthusiasm from LeBron is to them — as should everyone else.
