It’s pretty easy to assume that a fairly high percentage of the high school basketball players who have spent the last month crisscrossing the country for the July evaluation period of dreams of playing professional basketball. Of being drafted and playing alongside or against greats like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
Of course, that dream won’t be a reality for the vast majority of those players, but given that both James and Wade are both dads with children playing grassroots hoops, there is now the opportunity to play in front of them, at least.
Malachi Wideman made the most of that chance last week.
The Class of 2020 guard unleashed a huge dunk with James and Wade in attendance with both jumping out of their seats in reaction.
@KingJames & @DwyaneWade just saw the DUNK OF THE SUMMER‼️@mightymal13 🏀💎 pic.twitter.com/4GVr4SSLFG
— HoopDiamonds (@HoopDiamonds) July 27, 2018
“AND IF YOU DON’T KNOW, NOW YOU KNOW.”
— SLAM HS Hoops (@SLAM_HS) July 27, 2018
Malachi Wideman is putting on a show. Remember the name. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/DT2ouCPnhD
FLORIDA BOY FLIGHT ✈️
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) July 27, 2018
Malachi Wideman just threw it DOWN in front of Dwyane and LeBron in Vegas‼️ @SLAM_HS pic.twitter.com/MEal65M8Ln
Wideman is a top-100 recruit in his class, and plays on the same team as Wade’s son.
Getting that kind of reaction from a pair of future Hall of Famers makes for a pretty good day of hoops. Or week, month, year or lifetime, for that matter.