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LAS VEGAS – Dozens of fans gulp outside the entrance on Wednesday night, the anxious crowd growing up to the minute and threatening to spill over onto a separate piece of land.
"An adult couple decided to participate, and we decided that it was best to stop the game." Joe Orukotan, coach of the North Shore Blue Chips
They were there to see the world's biggest NBA star – and his 13-year-old son – at a small auxiliary gym at Liberty High School.
The hopeful masses have never had the opportunity. The LeBron James Jr. game was canceled for security reasons before the ball could be tilted at 9:30 pm Thanks to an adult in a jersey of Michael Jordan, who made fun of LeBron James – and a clash that broke out between the adults even before the game can begin – the biggest news of the Las Vegas basketball scene on Wednesday night was A 13-and-under game was discarded.
This was, without a doubt, the most anticipated 13U game in the history of Las Vegas summer basketball.
"It was our first cancellation," said Joe Orukotan, coach of North Coast Blue Chips team of Bronny James, at CBS Sports. "Some adults decided to participate, and we decided that it was best to stop the game."
A spokesman for the event told CBS Sports that the decision to kill the event was the right one. For about 20 minutes after its cancellation, the fans lingered in the small gym and demanded their refund. Bigfoot Hoops, who runs the tournament event that includes the North Coast team Bronny James, has been trying to pay back.
It was a setting that those present will not forget anytime soon.
A distant year of the surreal Zion Williamson vs. LaMelo Ball show here in Vegas, which included LeBron being fired at the door due to the safety and concerns of the crowd, we have a developing trend. The stars are coming out for the youth basketball scene in the desert, but the operations in place at some of these sites are easily outdated.
Crowd control is paramount. Even officials ask LeBron for photographs that the games are going on. It's going to get harder and harder when Bronny James goes to high school.
Which will not happen until another year. One of the world's best-known 13-year-olds will begin eighth grade in Los Angeles this fall.
We quickly discover that Bronny's traveling basketball tour will require security similar to that of the NBA to be able to keep these matches uneventful in the future. Las Vegas, like every year at the end of every July, has become the center of the world of basketball. Hundreds of college coaches are there to recruit, hundreds of other out-of-school teams are present to compete in dozens of gyms, and the USA Basketball camp is held in the facilities of the school. UNLV training.
As expected, LeBron and his family have become a prominent attraction on the summer basketball scene. Bronny, whose official name is LeBron James Jr., already overlaps with first name status only.
"Which is Bronny?" is a question that fills the gym at the beginning of its games, posed by children and adults. It will not be long before casual basketball fans can identify him almost as easily as his father.
And then, there is the entrance of his father to these games, which should accompany screaming, crooked neck and clamor. To get a glimpse of LeBron in a humble high school gym is to see a superstar in an unusually comfortable environment. There is always a buzz in Las Vegas every July, but this one is different because it includes LeBron James, Basketball Dad, who introduces and encourages encouragingly the advice of his son and his teammates behind the bench.
"Come on, Bronny, space him, space him, go to work now."
It's a pure and fun scene.
The 5 foot 10 James Jr already has a large audience and is rapidly growing to celebrity status, whether he likes it or not. If you are the son of LeBron James, and want to play basketball, and you are very good at basketball compared to most other 13 year old players, then that is inevitable.
James, who travels to Las Vegas with a convoy of four Escalade and Navigator cars, enters the gyms through backdoors and side entrances to get him in and out quickly without creating scenes. dangerous for the public. He can not just walk around the parking lot, walk into the main entrance and head to the stands. This could possibly result in sending people to the emergency room. Instead, he dives right before Bronny plays, keeps his distance from the hoi polloi and, as was the case on Wednesday night, sits down with his good friend Chris Paul.
Gymnasium doors are closed long before Bronny's games actually begin. It has become a situation where you have to arrive one hour before the scheduled time in order to have a chance to watch North Coast play.
On Wednesday night, before the Liberty High stage, Bronny's North Coast Blue Chips kicked off their last summer basketball tournament (they also played in Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio and North Carolina) to Agassi Prep. North Coast took a 26-0 lead against the Oakland Rebels and won 66-18.
As the games continue, we hear LeBron's voice explode in the gym.
"Double, get off, Mike!"
"Do not play with them, do not play with them.
" I'm trying to get this tip, I see you, boyyyy. "
While coaches are not Authorized to recruit, and analysts are generally slow to take stock of the basketball skills of most children before reaching high school, Bronny James is undeniably an intriguing young talent.It plays well with both hands, is an avid and aggressive defender, and not trying to pull as much as it looks to distribute.
"Layup first, then out", says James to his son At the beginning of the match.
Watching him play, it is clear that Bronny is taking well after his father.Nobody knows how he will finish, but it is inevitable that he will become the most prominent player in his High School Class (2022).
And LeBron is also very involved in the program, although Orukotan, who has coached Bronny since he was was in elementary school, told CBS Sports that James does not just finance the team.
"He's practical with that," Orukotan said. "In addition to being a model for a million kids, he's a great dad, sometimes we play on the road, we come back at 1am, and he's already working on a plan to match for our team.
At one point, with Cleveland Cavaliers coach Ty Lue, who was watching in the stands alongside LeBron, North Coast played a game for an easy bucket. Read started laughing.
"Hey, Joe, the backdoor was open," LeBron told the coach.
It seemed that North Coast was using the same type of set James would use with the Cavaliers.
"They run Fist Down!" Lue said to James with a tone of surprise.
"We just put it yesterday," said James.
The North Coast is prominent not only because of Bronny James, but because the team is damn good. They are 46-7 this year, with a lot of these older games against the competition. One of his players, Jahzare Jackson, is already around 6-7 and can dive.
As Kevin Durant found himself in a new Twitter session on Wednesday, the world's greatest basketball player was shaking back support, watching his daughter closely, and getting involved with his eldest son's game. Given his level of crazy fame, it would be understandable that LeBron chose not to appear regularly at his son's games. But that does not seem to be the plan – and it always downplays the quality of this group.
"It's a good team, not a good team," he surprised Wednesday. "A little outclassed."
The hype and interest will grow as Bronny ages. This weekend is the last summer when he will not play in front of university coaches.
It's already rampant now.
Imagine what it will be when he is 14 years old.
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