Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James isn't playing favorites, but he may have a favorite all-time coach. That would be no less than Keith Dambrot, the men's basketball coach at Duquesne University.
Dambrot, of course, was James' coach during James' early years at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School. He then went on to become coach at the University of Akron in James' hometown. Some of LeBron's former high school teammates went on to play for Damrot with the Zips.
Either way, you know Dambrot holds a special place in James' heart — and one act of kindness brought that to life. That act? James gave the entire Dukes basketball program some of his new LeBron James XXI sneakers for the NCAA Tournament.
The Dukes, the No. 11 seed in their region, were set to tip off vs. BYU on Thursday afternoon.
They shared a video of James' special gift, showing the player's reaction to receiving their kicks.
"Appreciate it King," the caption read.
Appreciate it King ?@DuqMBB x @KingJames pic.twitter.com/yTiQFMBno0
— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) March 20, 2024
James replied to the post by writing, "Yessir!! Best of luck guys!!"
The packages arrived on the day before the Dukes' first tournament game since 1977, after they topped VCU in the Atlantic 10 championship game.
It also came less than a week after Dambrot announced he's retiring from coaching at the end of the season. He's been at Duquesne for seven years.
Interestingly, Dambrot's father led the team to the NCAA tourney as a player in 1952.
