Five days after selecting him in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers officially introduced Bronny James on Tuesday.
In doing so, the Lakers’ second-round pick and son of LeBron James revealed that he will be wearing No. 9 to start his NBA career.
Why? As the 19-year-old James revealed, he’s doing so as a tribute to the late rapper Juice WRLD. Juice WRLD — whose real name was Jarad Anthony Higgins — often incorporated “999” into his lyrics and fashion as a message to flip a negative situation (represented by the evil-associated “666” number) into a positive.
“Juice has just been a big part of me keeping calm in some situations that I’ve been through,” Bronny told reporters on Tuesday. “So yeah, just paying homage to him, especially because he passed. That’s a really important thing for me.”
“Juice has been a big part of me keeping calm in some situations I’ve been through.”
Bronny James pays homage to the late Juice WRLD by wearing the #9 for LAL 🪽 pic.twitter.com/DxMzMThEPi
— NBA (@NBA) July 2, 2024
While his famous father has been most associated with the No. 23 — which he currently wears for the Lakers — his oldest son has typically tried to create his own identity with his jersey numbers. After wearing No. 0 throughout his high school career at Sierra Canyon and his father’s previous jersey No. 6 at USC, the younger James will now flip the latter upside down as he prepares to make history as a part of the first father-son duo in NBA history.
[NBA]
