LeBron James witnessed a very “disrespectful” incident as he came in to attend his son Bronny James’s high school basketball game in Springfield, Massachusetts. Obviously Bronny James and his Sierra Canyon basketball team were the centers of attention at the big tournament when a fan threw what looked like a piece of candy at Bronny before he was about to inbound the ball. The referee immediately stopped the game and called a police officer over to deal with the fan, who was reportedly ejected from the game.
The incident happened with 3:08 to play in the third quarter of Bronny James’ Sierra Canyon team’s loss to Paul VI Catholic High School (Va.) on Monday at the HoopHall Classic in Springfield. This does not appear to be the first time Bronny James, who went scoreless in 13 minutes, has dealt with some form of abuse from fans.
“You’d be surprised by all the stuff Bronny has to go through,” teammate Ziaire Williams told Yahoo Sports postgame. “It’s not fair, but he doesn’t let it faze him at all. I’m learning how to be more like that from him and he’s younger than me.”
James was also briefed on what all things his son goes through because of who his dad is, but James said his son handles it well for a 14-year-old high school freshman, whose Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, California) lost to Paul IV (Fairfax, Virginia) at the HoopHall Classic.
Apparently, LeBron James came in to witness is son play but was left disappointed after the incident. He was in the town to play against the Boston Celtics so his son’s game was on the same day so he took out the time for that. James was utterly furious and expressed his dismay in the post-match conference after his own game between Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.
LeBron showing Bronny the way ✊ @brhoops pic.twitter.com/5Tw7gSbCVt
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 21, 2020
“I did not see it until I got here actually. I was at the complete opposite end of the floor. I did see the referee stop the game or stop the in-bounds and a cop came up there. But I didn’t know what happened until the video evidence shown to me today when I got here.
“I mean it’s just disrespectful, and it was a little kid, too. I don’t know how old that little kid was. I don’t know if he learned that on his own or he learned that at home or whatever the case may be, but it’s disrespectful. I wonder how old that kid is if he was around Bronny’s age or Bryce’s age.”
James responded to a video of the incident on Twitter.
Hating has no age limit! 🤦🏾♂️. #JamesGang is build for it and well equipped. As we proceed 👑 https://t.co/6OzvGTxDEW
— LeBron James (@KingJames) January 20, 2020
Overall, it wasn’t a great outing for the dad and his son as No. 14 Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, California) suffered its third loss of the season, falling to No. 13 Paul VI (Fairfax, Virginia) 70-62 and Bronny went scoreless. While his dad, LeBron lost to Boston Celtics in one of the highest margin defeat for the Lakers this season.