By SAM LANCE
KANSAS CITY — When LeBron James was on the sideline to coach his son Bryce James‘ Strive for Greatness Nike EYBL team during Session 4, the theme of his offense was simple: feed the post. Luckily for SFG, they have quite the big man in four-star Tee Bartlett, and he put on quite the show in front of James.
Finishing with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting, Bartlett helped lead SFG past the Florida Rebels 65-57 in a much needed victory for SFG’s Peach Jam hopes. During the contest, James continuously ran plays to feed Bartlett in the post. And more often than not, Bartlett made the right play, either scoring or passing to the open man when the defense collapsed.
“I’ve been knowing him since like 7th grade, so it’s kind of like a family thing,” Bartlett said of his relationship with the NBA legend. “He’s like an uncle to me. LeBron knows that I can score. LeBron had faith in me.”
For the weekend, Bartlett — the 6-foot-10, 275-pound big man from Coronado (NV) — averaged 8.8 points and 2.3 rebounds per game while shooting 64.3% from the field.
“I feel like I play very physical and strong,” Bartlett said of his game. “Not a lot of people can do that, you know what I mean. I feel like my role is to just finish around the basket.”
While in Kansas City, Bartlett updated his recruitment with ZAGSBLOG.com, saying Texas, Ohio State, Miami, USC, Mississippi State, Arizona State and Providence have been recruiting him hardest lately. Bartlett took an unofficial to the Friars back in March and plans on taking some officials soon, but doesn’t have dates yet.
Here’s his breakdown of a few of those programs:
Texas: “I just like a big school. They have a lot of bigs that come from out of there and I feel like the coach really loves me. He talks to me almost every week, keeping up with me.”
USC: “USC is the same way. They got the new coach and I was one of the first kids he reoffered. I talked to him already and he loves me. And his playstyle is good. He took Arkansas to March Madness and stuff like that.”
Ohio State: “They got a couple bigs going there that are my guys like Sean Stewart and my other guy Aaron Bradshaw. I talked to them and they said they love it.”
Mississippi State: “They are just some dogs and play very physical. I feel like I would fit that playstyle for sure and I’d be able to be comfortable there if I play there.”
Arizona State: “They got a new coach and I’ve been in contact with him a little bit.” Assistant Yusuf Ali.
Bartlett is ranked the No. 58 overall prospect in the 2025 class per 247Sports and the No. 2 player in the state of Nevada.
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