SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Zhuri James stood with her back to the basket at the free-throw line and heaved an over-the-head shot that banked in after several previous attempts.
A little coaching and love from her superstar dad did the trick. LeBron James’ 11-year-old daughter held a shooting session of her own at Chase Center on Saturday night after he concluded his own warmup routine.
“I don’t know,” she said of what the trick was to finally make the backward free throw, “I tried to make sure I was in front of the basket.”
She also dribbled on the baseline as he dribbled and James caught a glimpse and gave her a smile, then Zhuri came out on the court for some shots from different spots around the key.
Zhuri said she had fun with opportunity, not something she gets to do at road games very often. At Lakers home games, she does it “sometimes but not a lot.”
And before the 41-year-old James headed into the locker room to finish getting ready to face the Golden State Warriors, who were without injured rival Stephen Curry for a 10th straight game, Zhuri threw him an alley-oop and he slammed it home. They shared a sweet handshake and he told her “love you” before heading inside.
Then he found his rhythm immediately come tipoff, making 7 of 10 shots and all four of his 3-point tries in the first half to go with four assists and four rebounds as the Lakers led 65-47 at the break.
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