It is that time of year where NCAA ‘March Madness’ Tournament kicks off and everyone fills out their brackets and prays for the best. Since he came into the NBA out of high school, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James never experienced the tournament, but he does have a bit of a rooting interest in Duquesne University.
The Dukes are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1977, a team that was led by future Lakers guard Norm Nixon. But this year’s team is coached by Keith Dambrot, who actually coached LeBron James for two years at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.
As such, LeBron is rooting hard for his former coach and even provided a little gift for Dambrot’s team prior to the game. The Lakers star gifted the Duquesne men’s team with pairs of his shoes ahead of their contest against BYU, Duquesne Men’s Basketball on X:
Appreciate it King ๐@DuqMBB x @KingJames pic.twitter.com/yTiQFMBno0
— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) March 20, 2024
Making things even more special for Duquesne, Dambrot and LeBron is the fact that Dambrot has announced that he is retiring from coaching following the end of this season so every tournament game could potentially be his last. That wasn’t the case on Thursday though as the 11-seed Dukes pulled off the upset, defeating the 6-seed Cougars 71-67, which James obviously enjoyed:
AYYYYYYYEEEEE!!! First tournament win in 55 years! @CoachDambrot ๐ @DuqMBB ๐๐พ๐๐พ๐๐พ๐๐พ๐๐พ. Keep it going
— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 21, 2024
YEAAAAHHHH @DruOnDemand LFG!!!! Go Dukes @DuqMBB
— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 21, 2024
LeBron has always been about giving back to those who helped shape him growing up and his community overall so this move is no surprise. The moment of getting those shoes from a legend like LeBron James is something these players will never forget.
Dambrot is someone who obviously had an impact on LeBron’s basketball career and life overall and the Lakers star has never forgotten that. It is these kinds of actions that truly make LeBron special as his impact stretches well beyond the court.
Lakers’ LeBron James thinks it’s ‘weird’ that Rajon Rondo isn’t coaching
Speaking of coaching, one of the smartest players in NBA history who many feel would make an excellent coach is LeBron James’ former Lakers teammate Rajon Rondo. LeBron recently spoke on the point guard and why he feels Rondo isn’t coaching.
On the first episode of LeBron’s new Mind the Game podcast with JJ Redick, he said that it was ‘very weird’ to him that Rondo wasn’t coaching at a high level, but believes it comes down to the fact that Rondo simply doesn’t want to coach. The Lakers star added that the idea of dealing with ‘entitled’ kids probably doesn’t appeal to Rondo much.
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