february 17–march 1, 2020 | new york 27“I’mnotsayingit’s notlit,” Wadesaid.“Buteverybody’sgot
theirownagenda.”
“It’sallcompetitionouthere,”Williams
said.
“OhmyGod,”Wadesaid,“somuchjealousy.”
EFOREASIERRACANYONGAMEinlate Jan-
uaryagainst Crossroads,a privateschoolin
SantaMonicathat sellsitselfas“artsy”(the
Tr ailblazerswonby 26 points),I wasmilling
aroundthecourtwithCameronLook,the
team’s unofficialphotographer,andSosa,a
burly New Yorker wearing a fanny pack and an earpiece tucked
under a Yankees cap. He was there to provide what may have been
the first full-time security detail in high-school-basketball history.
SierraCanyon had multiple LAPD officers on site, along with secu-
rityguards working the door, but the constant mob of selfie seekers
madeit necessary for the team to have a personal escortthrough
variouscrowds. When I asked Sosa what his primary concern was,
hereplied, “All Bronny, all the time.” I started to ask another ques-
tion,buthis attention had already shifted to some loomingsecurity
threat,and he walked away without answering. I told Look I was
surprised by how soft Sosa’s handshake was. “He’s nice until you
crosshim,” Look said. “Then he’ll fuck you up.”
AfterLeBron signed with the Lakers in 2018, Bronny spent his
eighth-grade year at Crossroads, a few miles from the family’s home
in Brentwood. “When he went to Crossroads, I knew it wasn’t going
to work,” Rock Pillsbury, who moved from Texas to become Sierra
Canyon’sathleticdirector,toldme.The
youngerJameswasa dominantmiddle-
schoolbasketballplayer—“Hevery casu-
allyputup 30 oftheir 60 points,andhewasn’t doinganything
flashy,”anopposingcoachtoldmeasa complimentonbothhis
skillsandhismanners—butCrossroadshadexperiencedonlyinter-
mittentathleticsuccess.(Shaq’s sons,ShareefandShaqir, andhis
daughterAmirahstarredthere inrecentyears,andDenzelWash-
ingtononcehelpedcoachtheeighth-gradeteam.) JimSkrumbis,
SierraCanyon’sheadof school,private-school-speakfor“principal,”
saidtheonlyquestionfacingtheJameseswasthesameonefacing
every citizenofL.A.everyday: “Is thedriveworthit?”
Sierra Canyon was founded in 1972 as a summer camp for kids,
halfanhour from Brentwood if traffic is light. The camp was a hit
amongfamilies in the San Fernando Valley, and six years later, the
founders opened an elementary school with fortuitous timing. The
California Supreme Court had recently mandated that LosAngeles
desegregate its public schools for the 1978 school year, which sent
wealthy white parents in the Valley scrambling to avoid busing
their children to integrated schools around the city. SierraCanyon
hoped to enroll 50 students. It ended up with 150.
As Sierra Canyon’s reputation grew, and the suburbs along the
101 corridor—Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Calabasas—became more
desirable to the L.A. entertainment firmament, the school emerged
as an alternative for a celebrity clientele willing to deal with some
extra time on the 405 in exchange for the advantages a slightly newer
model of school could confer. In 2001, several Sierra Canyon par-
ents, including Andy Gordon, a partner at Goldman Sachs, and Will
and Jada Pinkett Smith, whose daughter, Willow, was a student,
bought land up the hill from the campus and earmarked it as a loca-
tion for a future high school. Sierra Canyon’s founders had neitherDylan Metoyer,
freshman guard.B. J. Boston, senior
shooting guard.