Bronny James to Duke basketball? Program remains 'involved' with star recruit, per reports
A longtime Duke basketball recruiting storyline once again has life.
The Blue Devils remain “involved” in the ongoing recruitment of four-star 2023 combo guard and high school basketball phenom Bronny James, according to recent reports from 247Sports and On3 Sports.
James, the elder son of NBA superstar and current Los Angeles Laker LeBron James, has long been connected to the program given his father’s strong relationship with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
James and Krzyzewski grew close while winning consecutive gold medals with USA Basketball at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Summer Olympics, and James, in a 2018 Instagram comment, described Krzyzewski as “the absolute best,” adding that “(I) hope he’s still at the helm when my boy comes up.”
That obviously won’t be the case, as Krzyzewski, 74, is retiring after the 2021-22 season and current associate head coach Jon Scheyer, who has handled Duke’s recruiting since last summer, is replacing him. But according to industry insiders, that hasn’t completely squashed the Blue Devils’ chances.
After watching James last month, Eric Bossi of 247Sports wrote that the 6-foot-3 junior from Sierra Canyon High School outside of Los Angeles played “as well as he ever had” in front of the website’s scouts and reported that he’s “believed to have interest” in Duke, Ohio State, Tennessee and Texas.
Joe Tipton of On3 Sports deduced the same later in December, reporting that Duke and Kentucky, despite not having offered James a scholarship, remained “interested” in the 17-year-old star.
Finally, in a January scouting report that praised his “natural feel for the game,” 247Sports’ Brandon Jenkins reported that Duke, Kentucky, Ohio State and Texas are among schools involved with James.
Since James keeps a low profile and remains “basically off limits to the media,” as Bossi wrote, such reported nuggets are the best look inside the recruitment of the nation’s most recognizable prep star.
James is the nation’s No. 34 overall recruit in the class of 2023, per 247Sports composite rankings, and off the court he’s equally famous with 6.2 million Instagram followers, 5.4 million TikTok followers and a current name, image and likeness valuation of $5.1 million, according to On3’s new NIL 100 rankings.
Scheyer, Duke’s 34-year-old coach-in-waiting, has already proven he can recruit at a high level. Duke’s top-ranked 2022 recruiting class in the country includes the No. 1 player in the nation, Pennsylvania center Dereck Lively II, as well as three more five-star recruits who rank among the country’s top 13.
Duke also has the current No. 1 2023 recruiting class in the nation, with commitments from five-star guard Caleb Foster and four-star forward Sean Stewart and strong relationships with many others.
Chapel Fowler is a recruiting reporter for The Fayetteville Observer and the Paste BN Network. Reach him by email at cfowler@gannett.com or on Twitter at @chapelfowler.