There’s Nothing Wrong With LeBron James Dunking At Bronny’s AAU Game

We have officially reached the doldrums of the offseason in the NBA, with free agency all but completed and, at least we think, all the major trades of the offseason done.

As such, there’s not a ton to talk about right now, so when something like video of LeBron James getting extremely hyped at his son’s AAU tournament comes along it becomes a top story. Bronny James, the soon-to-be 15 year old son of the future Hall of Famer, went out to Vegas for a tournament this past weekend and supportive dad LeBron was right there courtside for his games.

Well, sometimes he was on the court too, as he hopped in layup lines with the kids to throw down some massive dunks and lost his shoe on the court celebrating an alley-oop from a pair of Bronny’s teammates during one of the games.

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This became a point of contention for some, particularly in the area of sports talk television, as they debated whether LeBron hopping in layup lines and dunking with his son’s team was good or bad, with even LeBron super-fan Shannon Sharpe saying he didn’t like LeBron doing this.

Sharpe is right, if LaVar Ball did this the conversation surrounding it would be very different, but that’s because the context surrounding it would be very different as well. LeBron James is the best basketball player of this generation and, while his position in the all-time rankings is frequently debated, comfortably one of the 5-10 best of all-time. LaVar Ball is not a former pro NBA player and that truly makes all the difference.

The perspective on this from adults is too often to say “oh, LeBron is stealing the shine from the kids,” without really thinking about what this is actually like for those kids on the team. Imagine, if you will, that you played on a team with one of Michael Jordan’s kids in the late 90s/early 00s, and one game Jordan hopped in your layup lines and threw down some dunks. It would be a story you’d tell forever to anyone and everyone. The story wouldn’t be how MJ took the spotlight from you at an AAU tournament, it’d be how incredible that was to get to share a layup line with him and watch him do some dope dunks.

That’s what this is like for these kids, and the hand-wringing over LeBron “just trying to always be in the spotlight” or whatever fault people find with this misses that point. Beyond that, one of the things that I find most endearing about AAU dad LeBron is that he gets hyped for all of the kids on Bronny’s team, not just his son. Yes, the camera usually pans to him flexing after Bronny does something, but the clip of him losing his mind (and his shoe) is over a play not even involving the younger James. If he just showed up, ignored everyone other than Bronny and did stuff like this, then sure you could sell me on it being something that might frustrate the other kids, but LeBron is pretty regularly captured on film doling out advice to Bronny’s teammates, which has to be a pretty incredible experience.

As for the argument that this should be Bronny’s time to garner attention, not LeBron, let’s not act as though Bronny would be getting any real mainstream attention at this point of his basketball career if he were not LeBron’s son. That’s not to say he’s not an excellent basketball player, he clearly is, but no 14-year-olds get mainstream attention because, well, they’re 14. Bronny is ahead of the curve in terms of spotlight because of LeBron’s presence, not in spite of him, and James hopping in layup lines isn’t doing anything but adding eyeballs to his son’s budding basketball career (and those around him).

It’s pretty awesome that LeBron is as invested as he is in his kids, from AAU ball to Taco Tuesday to everything else they do that doesn’t make it onto Overtime or Ballislife or LeBron’s IG story. The genuine enthusiasm he has for watching his kids grow up and being a big part of their lives — without seeming too overbearing when it comes to promoting them, a la LaVar Ball — is something to be celebrated. Throwing down massive dunks in layup lines with a bunch of teens isn’t some major offense, it is, at worst, a neutral and at best is giving them a pretty spectacular story to tell (and video to show) for the rest of their lives.