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Bryce James, the second son of Lakers star LeBron James, announced Wednesday on Instagram that he has committed to Arizona as part of the school’s 2025 men’s basketball class. The decision comes just months after Bronny James, 20, Bryce’s older brother, was drafted by the Lakers with the No. 55 pick.
Bronny and LeBron became the first father-son duo to play together in an NBA game during the Lakers’ home opener on Oct. 22.
While there’s been criticism over the Lakers’ decision to select Bronny James, who averaged under five points and three rebounds during his lone season at USC, LeBron’s eldest son was a top-25 prospect in the 2023 class, according to both ESPN and 247Sports. He suffered a cardiac arrest the summer before his freshman year.
Bryce, 17, has not received close to as much hype as his older brother. At 6-foot-6, he is much taller than Bronny (who is 6-foot-2), but the four-star prospect is not in ESPN’s Top 100 for the class of 2025 and is ranked No. 257 on 247Sports’ list. Even given his family name, Bryce is not projected to be an NBA-caliber player at the moment. However, it’s not uncommon for players to make jumps in college like Grizzlies stars Ja Morant and Desmond Bane, who were both unranked coming out of high school.
He also does not have the same social following as his older brother (8.1 million Instagram followers for Bronny compared to 2.1 million for Bryce). But as LeBron’s son, he will still be a draw for fans and endorsements alike (especially if his dad decides to attend games as he did with Bronny), which, in the NIL (name, image, and likeness) era of the NCAA, provides additional value for schools. But the flip side for some institutions is that accommodating the added attention James will bring comes with more work and potential chaos.
Bryce has received offers from Ohio State and Duquesne, which is located in Pittsburgh, but he ultimately chose the school closest to their family’s home in Los Angeles. LeBron has ties to the two other schools that offered Bryce, as he was born and raised in Akron, Ohio, and grew up as a fan of the Buckeyes, while his former coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, Keith Dambrot, is the current head coach of the Dukes.
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