Not the Cavs nor the Heat: the one team LeBron James still watches today

Even years into his storied NBA career, LeBron James hasn’t forgotten where he came from, or who he grew up with. While he’s played for the Cavaliers, the Heat, and now the Lakers, making a name for himself as potentially the greatest player of all time, there’s one team he still checks in on: Duquesne University, coached by his lifelong friend Dru Joyce III.

Joyce and James go way back: teammates at St. Vincent–St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, under coach Keith Dambrot, they still share a bond to this day, as recently revealed by Joyce himself.

Now head coach at Duquesne, the 40-year-old told reporters that the NBA’s all-time leading scorer regularly watches their games and offers tactical advice on how to play.

“Immediately, they were like, ‘LeBron ... watched us?’”

“I just hit him the other day about a weak-side defence question, just to pick his brain on how he would play it,” Joyce told ESPN. “And he got back to me just with a bunch of confidence and said, ‘No, I think you’re going about it the right way.’ So we get to share in those basketball moments.”

After LeBron’s mother, in attendance at a recent game, told the young players that her and her son watched the match, Joyce was hit by a sea of stunned faces: “Immediately, they were like, ‘LeBron ... watched us?’” Joyce said about their reaction. “What it does for our team is it elevates us.”

Whether or not LeBron and his family will be at the upcoming game against Northeastern - held at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio, where they are from - he doesn’t know. But that does not break the bond between the two families: “More than anything, it’s still a loyalty, a trust and bond that we have,” he said.

On the emotions of the game itself, Joyce said: “This one is close to the heart, man. It is special. I still approach it just like every game, but from the emotional side, man, I’m back home. I’m amongst my family and friends. This is the city that raised me. A lot of my journey happened, from a basketball standpoint, and just an overall connection with people at St. Vincent-St. Mary, and the opportunity to bring my team here to experience Akron, and I get to show them a bit of my hometown."

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