Two days after LeBron James turned 40 years old and one day after James became the first player in NBA history to play in both his teens and his 40s, his younger son made his own headlines. Bryce James, the 17-year-old son of the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, announced his commitment to play college basketball at the University of Arizona.
The youngest James is a shooting guard in the Class of 2025 and is rated as a three-star prospect by some recruiting services and a four-star by others. He currently attends Sierra Canyon High School in Los Angeles, the same high school his older brother, Bronny James, attended before going to USC.
Bryce James has also had offers from Ohio State and Duquesne, with more apparent ties to both programs than with Arizona. LeBron James had long said that if he had gone to college, instead of jumping straight from high school to the NBA, that he would have gone to Ohio State. And while Bronny James was offered by Ohio State, and Bryce James was born in Cleveland, the sons ultimately made their own college selections.
As for Duquesne, it is coached by Dru Joyce III, who is a longtime friend of LeBron James, as the two were both classmates and teammates in high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio. Joyce III’s father, Dru Joyce II, was the coach of that high school team featuring his son and LeBron James, so it would have been a full-circle moment for the two families if Bryce played for Joyce III after LeBron played for Joyce II.
What the Arizona Wildcats program does have is a knack for landing recruits who are sons of famous fathers. Shareef O’Neal, a son of Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, originally committed to Arizona out of high school in 2017, only to then back out after Arizona basketball was implicated in a corruption scandal. The younger O’Neal would then commit and play for UCLA.
Alijah Arenas, son of three-time NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas, has also received an offer from the Wildcats and is in the same 2025 class. And Elijah Williams, son of former NBA player and head coach Monty Williams, has an offer from Arizona and is in the Class of 2026.
James becomes the second commit for Arizona in the Class of 2025, joining Dwayne Aristode who committed back in November. The Wildcats sport a 7-5 record entering 2025 in their first year in the Big 12 as they failed to live up to their preseason top-10 ranking. After winning their first two games, the Wildcats then went just 2-5 over their next seven games to drop out of the AP Top 25 Poll. This comes a year after Arizona won the Pac-12, went 27-9 overall, and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Unlike big brother Bronny, who was a McDonald’s All-American and five-star prospect by many services, Bryce isn’t deemed to be on the same level. However, one of the things he previously said about his affinity for Arizona was that coach Lloyd has proven his ability to develop players and maximize their potential.
We’ll have to wait and see until 2026, at the earliest, if Bryce James’s potential results in him becoming on the radar for NBA teams. For years, LeBron talked about his main goal being able to play in the NBA with his eldest son, Bronny, but there hasn’t been as much discussion about LeBron potentially playing with Bryce as well.
Playing just two more years would allow him to, potentially, take the court with both Bronny and Bryce. However, that would be assuming that Bryce successfully enters the NBA and departs Arizona after just one season.
