In this particularly calm summer time in terms of basketball, the trip of the California Basketball Club to Île-de-France was the event on Monday 15 August.
However, it is only a team of Californian high school students but with the two sons of LeBron James, Bronny (17) and Bryce (15), Justin Pippen, son of Scottie Pippen, or Ashton Hardaway, son of Penny Hardaway , the meeting at the Maurice-Thorez sports hall in Nanterre was enough to attract attention.
Bronny James’ thunderous dunk
Especially since the Comsport agency had set up a beautiful team in front of them, with many French basketball hopes (Ilane Fibleuil, Bilal Coulibaly, Melvin Ajinca, Tidjane Salaun or Maxime Logue) ready to challenge the “children of the Americans”.
Despite the reduced communication and a suboptimal ticketing system, there were a lot of people in Nanterre, with few “guests” in the stands, in particular Tyronn Lue, the Clippers coach Victor Wembanyama, present to see his little brother Oscar, or even Nicolas Batum. It must be said that the meeting was broadcast directly on ESPN, the American channel that entered into force for the event.
The question, for all viewers / onlookers, was to know how much Bronny James, who his father is waiting for in the NBA in 2024, was really worth. Did he really have the level of the best French players in his age group?
To this question the son of the “King” answered quite well, showing an aggression towards the club and an activity that inevitably reminded his father. With his right hand crushed on the left side of the field, on Melvin Ajinça, he also turned on the room and social networks, showing all the explosiveness and power of him!
Bilal Coulibaly, Italian MVP
The main difference with the father is clearly his size (announced at 1m88), which limits his potential and makes him much less lethal in penetration, where the French have chosen him several times.
However, he finished with 25 points, the best score of the game, tied with Bilal Coulibaly, the French team’s MVP of the game. The Blues also win (97-85) after being dominated in the first half. The activity of Maxime Logué (15 pts) has thus helped the French “Select Team” to overturn the game, the defensive stops have turned into a counterattack and the tricolor size has helped to punish the American shortcomings in rebound.
Thanks also to the shots of Roman Domon (12 pts) and Melvin Ajinça (12 pts), the California Basketball Club was finally overtaken, while Bronny James left his teammates with five fouls at the end of the game.
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