Source: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty
After watching the NBA from a young age while his father won four championships, Bronny James is now following in his footsteps after being chosen #55 overall in the draft. LeBron James’ youngest son is a Los Angeles Laker now and despite the expectations on his muscular shoulders, he’s been so far holding his own and being gracious about it all.
His choice of uniform number though is something unrelated to basketball, his famous family or any eventually getting on the court with his father. He chose the number nine because of his love and appreciation for the late rapper Juice WRLD.
“Juice [WRLD] has just been a big part of me keeping calm in situations that I’ve been through,” James said in the press conference welcoming him to the storied franchise. “Just paying homage to him, especially because he passed. It’s a really important thing for me.”
Juice WRLD, born Jarad Anthony Higgins in Chicago, released two albums in his short lifetime Goodbye and Good Riddance (2018) and Death Race for Love (2019). He also collaborated with Future on an EP in 2019 called Wrld on Drugs. During that time he scored a diamond single with “Lucid Dreams” in 2018 and charted several others. Two more albums were released after his death.
In December of 2019, Higgins was coming off a private flight from Los Angeles to Chicago when he reportedly suffered a seizure at the airport. He was taken to a local hospital where he later died. He was 21. Toxicology reports say he died from a lethal mixture of oxycodone and codeine.
In June, during Black Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, Higgins’ mother Carmela Wallace announced that the LiveFree999 foundation, started in her son’s honor for mental health advocacy now includes a crisis text line.
“It allows us to provide confidential, 24-7 free access to help if they’re experiencing any type of crisis,” she told NY 1. “Whether small or large, it’s someone who can help them and provide the resources that they may need.”
Higgins had the number ‘999’ tatted on his forearm. He explained why in an interview with Sway Calloway in 2019.
“If you’re a person that believes anything to do with the Bible,” he said, “I think in the last book of the Bible it says 666 is the mark of the beast. That’s Satan, that’s Baphomet, that’s hell. ‘999’ represents taking whatever evil, whatever bad situation whatever struggle you’re going through and turning it into something positive and using it to push yourself forward.”
Watch Bronny explain his admiration for Juice WRLD in his first press conference as a Laker.
“Juice has been a big part of me keeping calm in some situations I’ve been through.”
Bronny James pays homage to the late Juice WRLD by wearing the #9 for LAL
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— NBA (@NBA) July 2, 2024
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