Former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas appears to be a big fan of LeBron James' son Bronny -- but he sees at least one crucial difference in the players.
Bronny, a high school sophomore, is seeing an uptick in attention from basketball observers and prospect hounds after it was noted that LeBron's recently signed contract extension will expire when Bronny could potentially be eligible to make the jump to the NBA.
Arenas, a friend of LeBron, said during a recent podcast appearance that LeBron had reached out to him to gauge Bronny's game.
The former Wizards standout said Bronny compares favorably to the 10th-grade version of LeBron -- with the key disparity being their upbringings.
Recounting a text exchange with LeBron, Arenas said he gave the four-time NBA MVP an honest assessment of both players' skill set and makeup.
"I said, 'the difference between you and him at this point is you needed basketball to get out of where you were getting out of,'" Arenas said. "'He doesn't need basketball -- because you did it already.'"
Arenas offered high praise for Bronny's game, saying he's a better shooter and ballhandler than his father was at his age.
"I said, 'Don't even worry -- he's you,'" Arenas said. "'From what I can tell right now, he probably has a better shot than you did, dribbles better than you. You guys probably have the same passing ability. You were probably faster and taller, [Bronny] could probably jump higher.'
"And he said, 'Yo, dead on.'"
LeBron himself recently reflected on his unlikely rise from poverty in a single-parent household.
The basketball icon's charitable foundation this week announced the launching of a community center in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, the latest in a series of undertakings that began with the 2018 formation of the I Promise School, where 450 students are presently enrolled in grades 3-6.
The community hub is meant to help students' families with job training and provide them with dining and recreational areas as they look to get back on their feet.
LeBron said his own experience with instability as a child was a driving force in the project.
"My mom was literally one of those parents," he said. "I come from a single-parent household. I come from the inner-city. We come from not much at all. My mom didn't work. She was the only parent. She was 16 years old, walking through Central High School in Akron, Ohio, pregnant as a high school sophomore. And then unfortunately my grandmother passed away when I was 3 years old. My mom was 19. So we just, we've been through, I guess what you would say, hell and back. But we never wavered."