Could This 13-Year-Old Middle School Phenom Be the Next LeBron James?

Six-foot-seven Emoni Bates has quickly become star among recruits.

Could This 13-Year-Old Middle Schooler Be the Next LeBron James?
(Emoni Bates/Facebook)

Ever since cameras started showing up to LeBron James’ high school basketball games and the buzz around the young star-in-the-making reached a fever pitch, sports writers have been taking notice in teenage athletes. Who will be the next big star? Maybe the kid below, sporting braces and his Honor Society certificate.

That’s 13-year-old Emoni Bates, who stands at six-foot-seven and has quickly become one of the top-ranked high school basketball players in the nation, according to the Associated Press. And college recruiters are already looking. A highlight reel of Bates in action has garnered nearly one million views on YouTube.

“I don’t really pay attention to it, because if I pay attention to it, it’s just going to get to my head. And I don’t want it to get to my head. I just want to play basketball,” Bates told the AP.

Bates plays for Clague Middle School in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

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