Savannah James opens up about LeBron’s move to Philly: ‘I have to figure out how to be three places at once’
Savannah James joined Keke Palmer on the "Baby, This is Keke Palmer" podcast to discuss LeBron’s move, being "three places at once," and more.
During the Sixers’ home opener, Savannah James was spotted on the sideline cheering on her husband, LeBron, as he led his team to victory over one of his former teams, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sitting right next to her was their daughter, Zhuri, who also was celebrating her 12th birthday.
The family routinely steps out to show their support for one another — whether it’s LeBron and Savannah attending Bryce’s games with Sierra Canyon or Arizona, waiting to play alongside Bronny in the NBA, or going to Zhuri’s volleyball matches.
And despite thousands of miles being between them, they’re still showing up for one another. On a recent episode of Keke Palmer’s Baby, This is Keke Palmer podcast, Savannah opened up about LeBron’s move to Philly and the struggles of being “three places at once.”
Here’s everything you missed on Tuesday’s episode:
Being ‘three places at once’
Following the news that LeBron signed a two-year deal with the Sixers in the offseason, Philly has become one of three homes for Savannah.
While she still resides in Los Angeles with her daughter, Zhuri, and her older son, Bronny, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, she also has to make time to travel to Philly and New York to visit LeBron while also traveling to Tucson, Ariz., where Bryce is a sophomore with the Arizona men’s basketball team.
» READ MORE: LeBron James’ commute has drawn attention. Here’s what we know about the 76ers star’s helicopter trips from New York.
“The crazy part in my life is the fact that I have to figure out how to be three places at once,” Savannah said. “I try not to think about it because I’m like, it’s going to stress me out, and I know it has to happen.
“New York will be the hub. So, it will be LA, New York, and Philly. And my son is in school in Tucson, Arizona. Along with his season, he’s everywhere else. So trying to plan my life out like that is a little crazy for me right now. When one thing is off, it throws my whole day off.”
Entering a new chapter
With Zhuri entering middle school, Bryce in college, Bronny playing for the Lakers, and LeBron playing for the Sixers, it felt like a new chapter for Savannah — not to mention the fact that she recently turned 40.
“LeBron going to play in Philly, it’s going to be an adjustment, but it is going to work out,” Savannah said. “Zhuri going into middle school, it’s an adjustment, but it’s going to work out. And then the boys are kind of living their own lives. But I think the way that it feels for me is that I feel different in myself and the work that I’ve done and the way I wanted to feel going into this milestone age. So, it’s not necessarily that it feels different [because] all of the things are happening. It’s really just because of how I’m looking at it from the outside in. And I’m just a lot more comfortable.”
» READ MORE: Longtime Sixers fan Troy Clemons shares a memorable moment, and his drink, with LeBron
Although she’s in a comfortable mindset now, she revealed that she wouldn’t have always had the same response when finding out that LeBron was going to Philly.
“If you would have said LeBron is going to Philly five years ago, I would have been like ‘Huh, well we got to pack up everything. Zhuri, I don’t care how you feel. We are going,’” Savannah said. “Now, I’m more calm and everything is going to be OK, and we can visit and do the things.”
Zhuri’s voice
However, Zhuri did have a voice in the decision to stay in Los Angeles.
“She was trying to figure it out,” Savannah said. “[She was like], ‘So, am I not going to see him? How is this going to work?’ But, we also asked her, ‘You can go to school, we can go to New York, we can go to Philly.’ And she was like ‘Yeah, no. I’m [doing] volleyball and school. I don’t want to be away from school for that long. I still want to play with my teammates.’ So, she was really just like ‘OK, we’ll still visit. I’ll have my time, but I still get to do what I want to do with my friends and my teammates.’”
Inquirer beat reporters Gina Mizell and Chris Hine go behind the scenes of covering LeBron James, Jaylen Brown and the Sixers’ star-studded roster, and debate what’s real and not real about the team’s hot start. Watch here.
Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the Sixers Extra podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
