‘Top Class’ docu-series on Sierra Canyon coming to Amazon February 26

LeBron James is listed as an Executive Producer on the project which is sure to feature his son, Bronny James.

There has been an unprecedented amount of media following Bronny James and the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers over the past couple of years, with massive crowds following them everywhere prior to the start of the coronavirus pandemic shutting down sanctioned high school sports in most of the country. But while there has been tons of coverage there was one caveat: no interviews with the players, especially Bronny. Now those who want to know what it was like on last year’s Sierra Canyon squad, the most famous high school team in the country, thanks to a documentary series executive produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter.

“Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers” will hit Amazon Prime Video’s free streaming service IMBdTV on February 26, according to a press release. IMDbTV also released a trailer to show viewers what they might see in the docu-series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMF5xEQl9CU&feature=youtu.be

The pressures, the attention, the classwork, and all the other drama that comes from trying to win a third straight state championship while having more attention than most NBA teams shines through in the trailer. We’ll see what LeBron and Maverick Carter learned from their own experience producing a documentary about LeBron’s final high school season, ‘More Than A Game’ (2009).

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Top 10 LeBron Wire stories from the year of 2020

A year in our year of covering LeBron James.

2020 was a year in which top-ten lists fail to capture all of the feelings from a difficult year in almost every aspect. For the NBA, it involved a season that started and ended multiple times and for LeBron James, a year unlike any other, somehow ending in a championship. For LeBron Wire, it was a difficult year for us too, starting and stopping a season amidst a pandemic, creating other content when no games were happening, and otherwise trying to keep the lights on. But I’m not going to take any more time describing the past year before showing you the stories that most people clicked on in 2020.

 

Bronny James and CBC fall to Air Nado after Jaden Hardy’s 39 points

Bronny James and his Sierra Canyon squad played against one of the best players in the nation in a great game.

Last night was a great night of basketball for hoops starved fans waiting to look for a glimpse of the talent projected to arrive in the NBA in the coming years. The main event was the showdown between No. 1 2021 recruit Chet Holmgren’s Team Sizzle against No. 1 2022 recruit, Emoni Bates, who some say is the best player in the high school basketball period. The nightcap featured Bronny James and his Sierra Canyon squad, playing as the AAU squad CBC to get around restrictions currently limiting school-sanctioned hoops, were in a classic against Air Nado out of Nevada.

While Bronny had some moments, both running the show as the point guard and letting it rain from the beyond the 3-point line, including a buzzer-beater, his squad was bested by five-star recruit Jaden Hardy, who had 39 points to lead all scorers for Air Nado.

Hardy, according to 247Sports, is drawing attention from Kentucky, Oregon, and UCLA.

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Bronny James game vs. Emoni Bates to air Nov. 21 on Fox Sports 1

The showdown between Ypsi Prep and CBC will air on Fox Sports 1 on November 21.

[jwplayer 00MM35Pg-z6KDnl0B]

For a while, it was looking like the showdown between Emoni Bates’ Ypsi Prep and Bronny James CBC on Nov. 21 would be the biggest basketball news when it happens but even as it will now be happening in the midst of what projects to be a chaotic NBA free agency, the game is going to be broadcast to a national audience.

Adam Zagoria, writing for ZagsBlog, reported earlier this week that the Bates-Bronny showdown in Texas scheduled for a few days from now will air on Fox Sports 1. Bronny’s teammate Amari Bailey is the No. 4 ranked recruit in the class of 2022.

The game is part of a tournament that is sponsored, in part, by Lakers guard Danny Green. It remains to be seen whether LeBron himself will go to the game, or how many people will be allowed to watch the game, given the current state of the pandemic.

NBA free agency starts on Nov. 20 at 6 p.m. Eastern Time.

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Bronny James to face Emoni Bates in showcase game sponsored by Danny Green

Bronny James and Sierra Canyon will face off against the highest-rated high school player in the country, Emoni Bates in late November.

With the NBA’s owners apparently uniting around the pursuit of a 2020-21 season around Christmas, the rest of the basketball world is getting ready to start in the late fall like they usually do. Included in the rest of the basketball world is high school basketball at some levels, including Bronny James and the Sierra Canyon Trail Blazers. As one of the highest-ranked teams in the nation, they will take the court again soon and they will have a highly-anticipated showdown against the most hyped high school basketball player in some time.

Adam Zagoria reported for Forbes that Bronny James and the Sierra Canyon Trail Blazers will face off against No. 1 ranked high school player Emoni Bates and Ypsi Prep (Michigan) in the Green and Gold Level Sports & Entertainment Showcase in Dallas, Texas, sponsored by LeBron’s Lakers teammate Danny Green. Green told Forbes he hopes he and LeBron can both attend the game.

“I think so since we’re not playing, we don’t have much else going on,” Green, who has won NBA titles with the Lakers, Raptors and Spurs, said in a phone interview. “It would be nice, I hope we will both be able to make it out there.”

Sierra Canyon advanced to the State Final in 2020 but the final game was stopped due to the coronavirus.

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Recruiting analyst believes Bronny James ‘at least top-25’ in his class

The eldest son of LeBron James, Bronny James, is projected to be one of the best players in his high school class in the nation.

Bronny James and several other young basketball players were unable to do their typical summer routine this year, with the pandemic greatly limiting the number of tournaments and summer basketball available. But even though his high school team was unable to finish the season and he was held out of playing this summer on the AAU circuit, Bronny is still regarded as one of the best players in his class.

The latest to publish their belief in Bronny’s future as a basketball prospect was Rivals.com analyst Eric Bossi, who answered a question about Bronny’s ranking in his class, saying he believes he’s at least a top-25 player in the class of 2023.

Bronny is a kid who we did get to see quite a bit during his freshman season playing for a loaded Sierra Canyon program. He’s a nice athlete, shows potential as a jump shooter and is an alert passer. Obviously, his bloodlines are incredible. He would have to rank in at least the top 25 or so to start off with.

Bronny is the biggest name in his class, but he also has the game to go with it. And at only 15, he has plenty of improvement to make that can help him grow even more over the course of his high school career.

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Sportsbook has HBCU North Carolina Central as favorite for Bronny James

After five-star recruit Makur Maker chose to go to Howard, the folks at Bovada believe an HBCU could be in the cards for Bronny as well.

One of the biggest recruits in the country made a move that some think could be a harbinger of things to come for the nation’s top, Black basketball players. Makur Maker, brother of the NBA’s Thon Maker and a five-star recruit, committed to Howard University, a historically Black university. And in light of the news, the folks at Bovada decided to look at the recruitment of Bronny James, believing that Bronny is likely to also go to an HBCU.

North Carolina Central University, which reportedly already offered Bronny a scholarship earlier this year, is listed as the favorite to land him with Duke, which like NCCU is located in Durham, North Carolina, right behind. But two other HBCUs, Howard and North Carolina A&T, round out the top four in the prop bet “Who will Bronny James play his first NCAA game for?”

North Carolina Central +120

Duke +125

Howard +600

North Carolina A&T +900

Kentucky +950

Kansas +1400

North Carolina +1600

UCLA +2000

Bronny just finished his freshman year so he still has a long way to go before he actually has to make a choice on where he goes after high school. Still, with the move of Maker and the buzz surrounding other young players, it appears that historically Black colleges and universities could see the nation’s top players align with their programs.

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Bronny James comes in ranked No. 24 on ESPN’s 2023 rankings

Bronny James, the eldest son of LeBron James, is one of the top 25 players in his age group, according to ESPN’s Paul Biancardi.

While the NBA has their plans set on a return to play at Disney World starting July 31, the path back for youth sports is significantly murkier, given that high school teams don’t have the same type of resources as professional sports leagues. As we’ve seen with Major League Baseball, even being a pro league isn’t a guarantee a path to play. As far as the NCAA is concerned, we still don’t know how that will play out. But there are tons of young athletes who are waiting in the wings, which was the focus of ESPN.com on Tuesday, in particular the boys basketball players from the class of 2023.

The top recruit is DJ Wagner, the son of LeBron James’ former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate DaJuan Wagner, while LeBron’s eldest, Bronny James, came in ranked No. 24 on the list of 25 players. Bronny just finished his freshman year at Sierra Canyon, where he was an important contributor for one of the best teams in the nation, alongside likely NBA draft picks BJ Boston and Ziaire Williams.

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Two Sierra Canyon players crack 2021 NBA Draft Big Board

BJ Boston and Ziaire Williams both cracked Bryan Kalbrosky’s Big Board for the 2021 NBA Draft.

It’s never to early to start thinking about the future, even during a time of uncertainty. And while nobody is quite sure when this year’s NBA Draft will be, there will be another group of players who will eventually be drafted when the NBA does return, who will at least have to wait a full school year more before they make the jump to the NBA. Our own Bryan Kalbrosky of the Rookie Wire put together his latest Big Board for the 2021 Draft class, which included two of Bronny James’ Sierra Canyon teammates, BJ Boston and Ziaire Williams.

The Kentucky-bound Boston came in No. 11 on Bryan’s first edition of the 2021 Big Board, while the Stanford-bound Williams came in at the No. 19 spot on the list. Obviously, there will be plenty of changes between now and then, but both of those guys are definitely ones to watch when it comes to going to the next level.

According to Kalbrosky, Boston’s playmaking and shot creation are very enticing, while Williams’ ability as a shooter also has him likely headed to the next level.

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LeBron James shares son Bronny’s Freshman year HS mixtape

LeBron James showed off the highlights of his son Bronny from his freshman season with Sierra Canyon.

It’s been a long time since but one of the forgotten sports events that got cancelled due to the spread of coronavirus throughout the United States was Bronny James Jr. and his Sierra Canyon Trail Blazers squad getting to play for the state championship. After a game-winner by Stanford-bound Ziaire Williams, the Blazers made it to the state championship game before the hiatus of sports in North America. And while the team didn’t get a chance to defend the title they had held for the previous two years, Bronny has plenty to be proud of having played for one of the best high school teams in the country.

Bronny’s Dad LeBron James was plenty proud, sharing this highlight video of Bronny’s freshman season on his Instagram Story.

View this post on Instagram

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A post shared by 0. (@bronny) on

Bronny had several big moments as a freshman, including some huge plays in a win against his father’s alma mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary’s. Bronny has also been testing his “Call of Duty: WARZONE” skills against other NBA players during the quarantine.

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