Lakers rookie Bronny James and Nets forward Ziaire Williams, former teammates at Sierra Canyon School in Los Angeles, met again Friday night with an NBA twist.
Following a 102-101 loss to the Lakers, Williams embraced James in their first on-court encounter both as NBA players, taking a moment to exchange jerseys and pose for a photo later shared online. Williams recorded 15 points, four rebounds and three assists to lead the Brooklyn starters in defeat, while James ultimately did not enter for the Lakers (coach’s decision).
Los Angeles somehow narrowly escaped the tanking Nets, as former Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell missed a controversial attempt from deep to win it for Brooklyn.
— Bronny (@BronnyJamesJr) January 18, 2025
Williams – drafted No. 10 overall by the Pelicans in 2021 and later traded to Memphis – is light-years ahead of James in experience, though.
In his first season with Brooklyn after being acquired last July, the 23-year-old forward continues to trend towards a career-best campaign at 9.7 points and 4.7 rebounds on 22.7 minutes per game. This also marks the final season of his four-year, nearly $20 million rookie scale contract.
“My Brudda 5L,” Williams wrote, tagging James on Instagram.
James, son of the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, has spent most of this season with the G League’s South Bay Lakers as a developmental prospect, dropping 14.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game through nine appearances (tip-off tournament + regular season). In the regular season alone, after two G League starts, the 20-year-old guard averaged 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists in 31.6 minutes per contest. Los Angeles promptly recalled James before Friday’s matchup with the Nets.
“My guyyyyy,” James replied, adding a salute emoji.
- @Ziaire: 141K followers
- @Bronny: 8M followers
To compare, the Brooklyn Nets and Vince Carter barely eclipse five million Instagram followers put together. Four-time NBA champion LeBron James has 159 million Instagram followers, over 111 million more than the Lakers, Cavaliers and Heat combined. Meanwhile, James Jr. effortlessly inches closer to passing the Boston Celtics (8.3M followers), defending and 18-time NBA champions.
The 2024 No. 55 overall pick has already leveraged this massive social media stardom into partnerships with Taco Bell, Beats by Dre, Android and multiple others. Just his last five Reels have reached 44 million views, two of which were advertisments for Taco Bell amassing 31.4 million views.
Brooklyn’s Instagram post of the James-Williams jersey swap at Crypto.com Arena currently has over 42,000 likes and 830 shares.