LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony reunited to cheer on their sons who faced each other in a recent high school basketball game, 20 years after the former Lakers teammates competed against each other when they were teenagers.
On Monday, Dec. 12, James and Anthony were seated courtside at Sierra Canyon High School, where James’ sons Bronny, 18, and Bryce, 15, are students, to watch their sons go head-to-head. The California school played Christ the King, a New York high school that Anthony’s 15-year-old son Kiyan attends, for the Geico High School Showcase.
Anthony, 38, shared a picture of the proud dads with their sons on Twitter during halftime.
“LEGACIES,” he wrote above the photo and tagged his son and James.
James, 37, retweeted the post and simply said, “FAMILY!!!” with a brown heart emoji.
The matchup was broadcast on ESPN2 and aired on the 20th anniversary that James also made his ESPN2 debut at just 17 years old as a St. Vincent–St. Mary High School student.
Months before James, already a rising star, first appeared on television, he played against Anthony, who was a senior at Oak Hill Academy in February 2002, according to Sports Illustrated. The game foreshadowed the decadeslong success James and Anthony would have in the NBA and ended with Anthony’s team winning.
The NBA superstars were joined by James’ wife Savannah James, Kiyan’s mom and actor La La Anthony, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian and Scottie Pippen to watch Bronny dunk on his competition and help his team win the game 62–51 on Monday night. The Chicago Bulls legend also has a 17-year-old son named Justin Pippen who plays for the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers.
Bronny scored 12 points for the Trailblazers and Kiyan finished the game with eight points for the Royals.
Anthony and James, who played together on the Lakers last season, were also photographed chatting throughout the night. The former Knicks player uploaded two pictures of him with Lebron at the game and tweeted, “Brothers.”
James shared the photo and added the infinity symbol to his caption.
The next day, Anthony posted a collage on Twitter that included photos of Bronny and Kiyan on the court together as well as a throwback of his high school game with James.
“Surreal being able to watch them play,” he said. “Family forever.”
The 38-year-old power forward, who is currently a free agent, spoke to ESPN’s Malika Andrews during the game and shared his plans about signing with another team in the league.
“I love the game, I will say that,” he said. “But I realize there’s a lot of things not in my control. So I can just sit back and let it play out and whatever it’s going to be, it’s going to be, and I accept that. I’m at peace with that.”
He added, “I’m cool ... I get to watch my kids ... I get to watch my son play, train him, be around him, go to his games. So these are the things that for a long time I haven’t had a chance to do. So now I can be that father and the man I need to be.”