NBA superstar LeBron James has been in the headlines for co-founding the I Promise School in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, which will provide free tuition, a computer and a bike to each of its underprivileged students. James, 33, has made children the priority of his philanthropy, pledging additional millions to put 240 at-risk kids through college. But what about James’s own family? Does he have children of his own?
Does LeBron James have kids?
Yes, LeBron James has three children with his wife, Savannah Brinson. The couple has been together since high school. Their children are LeBron Jr., born in 2004; Bryce, born in 2007; and Zhuri, born in 2014.
It looks like LeBron Jr., now 13, plans to follow his father into the family business: In June, USA Today noted that LeBron Jr. is one of the nation’s top rising eighth-grade basketball players. (His dad was also a prodigy, being the first undergraduate high-school basketball player to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated).
James said this year that his children will determine how long he keeps playing. “The only thing is with my kids getting older, that’s the only thing that kind of stops me from going as long as I’d like to,” he said last January. “I’ve got a 13-year-old son now. He’s in the seventh grade. He’s a damn good basketball player, too. On this road trip, I’ve already missed four of his games. That’s the thing that kind of sucks. I’ve got a 10-year-old boy, 3-year-old girl. Daddy side kicks in sometimes. That will be a deciding factor in how long I want to play.”
It was actually news about James’s children that hinted he would sign with the Lakers this season: Before he made the official announcement in June, NBA legend Gary Payton said that James’s kids had been enrolled in Los Angeles-area schools.
James has expressed concern about giving his children proper perspective: He grew up poor, while his children have one of the world’s richest athletes for a dad.
“They would never understand that there’s a bottom, and that’s the challenge of a parent every single day that I have to juggle with,” said James. “How do I raise my kids knowing that they will never feel or understand what their father went through? But you just give them life goals, you give them life challenges, and at the end of the day, they’re going to have to walk their own path. Just like we did. No matter if you came from the top of the top or the bottom, you still have a road to travel.”
