LeBron James and Savannah Brinson met in 2002, when they were both attending nearby Ohio high schools and just as LeBron became a national sensation. His early expectations were staggering, but he far exceeded them. At 37, he is the NBA’s current business, politics, and presentation engine, rather than its elder statesman. 

He also emphasizes his commitment to his family. He married Savannah in 2013 and has three children: Bronny, Bryce, and Zhuri.

As LeBron approaches his 20th season as a symbol of the NBA and its ever-expanding cultural footprint, his family has played an increasingly prominent role in the landscape he has reshaped. V.F. joined them at their Los Angeles home to commemorate their first photo shoot as a family (including Savannah’s parents, Jennifer and JK, and LeBron’s mother, Gloria), which Savannah described to me as a watershed moment for her children.

 Bronny, a guard for Sierra Canyon’s high school basketball team who turns 18 in October, says it’s about “getting to a place where he can start to make decisions about his career and where he wants to go in life.” Zhuri, a precocious seven-year-old, has a successful YouTube lifestyle show called All Things Zhuri. Bryce, 15, whom Savannah affectionately refers to as “the mystery of the family,” has the potential to go anywhere, despite being a highly touted basketball prospect.

At Sierra Canyon games, celebrities can be found both on the court and in the stands, and Savannah has seen her children adapt to the dynamic. “With LeBron being their dad, it’s just automatic,” she went on to explain. “It’s not something we forced them to do. “It just happened.