LeBron James plays reporter, announces Duquesne’s hire of high school teammate

LeBron James is many things.

He’s an all-time great basketball player. An actor. An entrepreneur.

On Thursday he got to add another job to his impressive resume, college basketball insider.

James was the first person to break the news that his high school teammate, Dru Joyce III, would be named the next head coach at Duquesne University. James posted the news to X.

“I’m proud to announce! As the unquestioned source I am confirming that Dru Joyce is the new HC at Duquesne University and is meeting with the team right now! So damn happy and proud of you my brother!!!

Joyce, 39, is well known for playing alongside James at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School. Retiring Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot coached James and Joyce at the Akron-based high school from 1998-2001.

Following Dambrot’s departure to become an assistant coach at Akron in 2001, Joyce’s father, Dru Joyce II, took over the St. Vincent-St. Mary program for the final two seasons of their high school careers. Joyce III will be formally introduced at a press conference on April 1.

“I’m very pleased to have Dru as our next head men’s basketball coach at Duquesne University,” Duquesne VP of Athletics Dave Harper said. “Knowing of Coach Dambrot’s potential retirement, a full vetting and search process was launched. Dru exhibited a clear vision for our program going forward and understands the challenge of keeping our recent success a possibility in the years ahead. It’s now imperative that we support him, his staff and the program with all that is needed to continue to be successful.”

Joyce III has spent the last two seasons as associate head coach at the Pittsburgh-based school. He said he is looking forward to “expanding on the legacy” Dambrot built over the last seven years.

Duquesne went 6-24 season in 2021-22 but has at least won 20 games in back-to-back seasons. The Dukes won the Atlantic 10 Tournament this season and upset BYU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Their season came to an end with a loss to Illinois in the second round.