LeBron James Wants Colleges To Stop Trying To Recruit His 10-Year-Old Son

Lebron “Bronny” James Jr. has received a number of college basketball offers at the tender age of 10-years-old, and his dad is not happy about it.

Eager athletic directors and coaches are infamous for finding loopholes within the prohibitions of NCAA rules but this is a little too far. For clear understanding, NCAA rules are as stated: “a prospective student-athlete is a student who has started classes for the ninth grade” – unless – “the institution provides such an individual any financial assistance or other benefits that the institution does not provide to prospective students generally.” Meaning schools are prohibited from basically scouting his son, right? Eh. Per the NCAA handbook: “In men’s basketball, a coaching staff member may observe an individual who has not entered the seventh grade participating in an athletically related activity, provided such observation occurs during a period when it is permissible to evaluate prospective student-athletes.” This is not to mention schools sliding money to AAU coaches and other local sports-involved folks to correspond with these young athletes, which is inevitable.

So, “technically,” no harm is being done by said institutions but it’s still outrageous to me and especially Sr, who hasn’t named any specific schools. “It’s pretty crazy. It should be a violation. You shouldn’t be recruiting 10-year-old kids,” said James. Ohio State Univ. allegedly sent LBJ Jr. a questionnaire. OSU’s Head coach, Thad Matta, denies this accusation but has said in a previous interview that he will be on the Buckeyes’ radar in the future. Univ. of Kentucky’s, John Calipari, got briefly acquainted with Bronny after an AAU game in Lexington last year and the two took photos hanging out in his office. But let’s be real, monitoring a child star isn’t all that awful, especially if you aren’t devious about it.

Get this, though; Bronny isn’t the first one. Kid standouts like Michael Avery, Ryan Boatright, and Matt Carlino all received offers prior to high school. Carlino, who plays for Marquette, also received one in elementary school. And you’d be a fool to think no one has reached out to Mo’ne Davis, who dominates in not one, but two sports. (She plays high school basketball and she’s only in the eighth grade.)

James has accepted the fact that his kid can ball, considering the fact that all of his game videos have millions of views per posting. “He plays just like I did,” James says. A hell of an honor on both ends. Yet, perhaps it’s the pressure and excessive fame that James is trying to shield his son from. Or maybe it’s the lack of education focus, since he’ll know his future is pretty much written out. Regardless of James’ deposition on the matter, as a father he has a right to feel this way.

And if those schools are smart, they’ll gladly honor his request and back-off before he starts name-dropping.

Sources:

LeBron James Wants College Coaches to stop Recruiting His 10-Year-Old Son: Maxwell Strachan, Huffington Post

LeBron James: Stop recruiting LeBron Jr.: Myron Medcalf, ESPN.com