James is welcomed back in first game at USC and first game since a heart attack in July.
The eyes of thousands were nothing new, never have been new, and the kid walked out onto the hardwood at the Galen Center stone-faced, his story at USC beginning with the swell of a vibrating Galen Center.
Bronny James was built for this, because he’s had no choice but to be. He lounged on the scorer’s table on Sunday morning as the first wave of fans filtered in, casually mouthing the words to Drake’s “10 Bands.” He fired up pre-game jumpers with a scrum of cameras on USC’s baseline tracking his every move, the same lenses that have eyed him since he was a freshman in high school at Sierra Canyon. And James showed no emotion when he checked in for the first time as a Trojan early in the first half Sunday afternoon, his titanic father proudly recording courtside, one of the most famous teenagers in the world completely and utterly unfazed.
“He’s very comfortable,” said Sierra Canyon assistant Chris Madden, “in his own skin.”
From his first steps in a USC uniform, James’ face remained utterly emotionless on a night that bubbled with emotion. The Galen Center roared every time he touched the ball against Long Beach State, because every time he touched the ball was a virtual miracle, father LeBron, sister Zhuri and brother Bryce all there to witness the return of a kid who could have very well never seen a basketball court again. In the span of just over four months, he’d returned from collapsing during a summer workout with cardiac arrest, a scene so scary teammate DJ Rodman had to sprint out of the gym and seniors like Joshua Morgan having to pull the group together in the locker room.
