Bronny James is paying tribute to Juice WRLD in a thoughtful way.
The 19-year-old NBA star and eldest son of LeBron James, 39, joined the NBA on Thursday, drafted 55th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers, according to The Athletic. His selection ends a year of speculation about his professional future, especially after suffering a cardiac arrest during a USC practice last year.
On Saturday, it was revealed on the Lakers’ Instagram account that Bronny would be using the number 9 on his jersey. The number itself appears to be a tribute to Juice WRLD.
As noted by Essentially Sports, the late rapper, who died of a seizure from an accidental overdose at age 21 in December 2019, talked to MTV News’ Sway Calloway about the significance of the number “999,” as seen throughout his imagery and lyrics.
“9-9-9 represents take whatever hell, whatever bad situation or whatever struggle you're going through and turn it into something positive,” said Juice at the time. “And you need to push yourself forward.”
Bronny also has “999 LLJW” on his Instagram bio, the latter of which can be interpreted as “Long live Juice WRLD.”
