The two best-known amateur basketball players in the country are underclassmen Mikey Williams and LeBron James Jr. That’s high school underclassmen, to be specific. At 15, they’re not even old enough to drive a car, yet they’re projecting as bellwethers for a new generation of basketball marketing.
The mainstream basketball fan wouldn’t recognize Mikey Williams, as he’s just a rising sophomore at San Ysidro High School in San Diego. But any basketball-savvy teenager or pre-teen you know likely counts among his nearly 2 million Instagram followers. LeBron James Jr., obviously aided by his famous father, has more than 5 million followers and has become an influence to his Sierra Canyon teammates and beyond.