LeBron James has a big night ahead of him. The Philadelphia 76ers are set to host the Cleveland Cavaliers in their home opener, the team he was playing for when his daughter was born. Before any of that, though, the 41-year-old had a more important thing to do, wishing Zhuri a happy birthday.
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Zhuri Nova James turned 12 on Oct. 22, and the birthday wishes poured in from her parents and some of the biggest names in their circle. Her birthday lands on big basketball days. Two years ago, she turned 10 on the same day the Lakers opened their season.
Savannah was the first to celebrate on Instagram, posting a three-photo collage of Zhuri with a caption full of celebration. “Happiest Birthday Zhuri Nova!!!!” she wrote.
‘King James‘ followed by resharing Savannah’s post to his Instagram story. “HBD PRINCESS!! Love you Mama Face!!!” he wrote.
Calling his daughter princess has sort of become a tradition for the four-time NBA champion. For her 10th birthday, the family filled their Brentwood mansion with hundreds of balloons, and LeBron shared a video of it with a caption, “Happy Bday My Princess.”
Savannah’s latest post has already gotten more than 100,000 likes, and the comments section was quickly filled with some familiar names.
La La Anthony, the actress and TV personality and also the ex-wife of Carmelo Anthony, who is one of LeBron’s closest friends, was one of the first to put in her wishes.
“Happy Birthday beautiful,” she commented.
But that was not all, A’ja Wilson, the Las Vegas Aces star, who won her fifth WNBA MVP award earlier this year, also weighed in. She has become a regular presence in the no 12-year-old’s life, and she kept up a tradition of her own. “Happy birthday friendddd,” Wilson commented.
That message was exactly the same as the one she left on Savannah’s post for Zhuri’s 10th birthday. However, this bond between Zhuri and A’ja goes beyond Instagram. That same 10th-birthday post included a photo of Zhuri with Wilson at an event during the 2024 Paris Olympics. In June 2025, Zhuri wore Wilson’s signature Nike A’One sneakers, one in each of two colorways, to a volleyball game.
Zhuri, the youngest of LeBron and Savannah’s three children and their only daughter, was born in Ohio on October 22, 2014, during LeBron’s first season back with the Cavaliers. Eight days later, he opened that season at home against the New York Knicks. Twelve years on, he has started his first season in Philadelphia against those same Knicks and faces the Cavs on her birthday.
For the first year and a half of her life, the family kept her out of the public eye. “Back when she was born, we didn’t show her,” Savannah told Vanity Fair. “No one saw her until LeBron won his 2016 championship.” That moment came on Father’s Day, after the Cavs’ historic Game 7 comeback win against the Golden State Warriors. Zhuri sat on her dad’s lap at the postgame press conference as he spoke about delivering the city its first title in 52 years.
But that wasn’t the only landmark moment she was present for. In February 2023, when James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, an 8-year-old Zhuri joined the family photo with the new scoring king.
However, not all moments shared by them in public have been serious. During the 2024 Paris Olympics, at a women’s beach volleyball match, LeBron ended up dancing in the stands, which left Zhuri visibly embarrassed as she was seen covering her face. Since then, volleyball has become her sport, and she even picked No. 6 for her jersey, a number that LeBron James wore in his career.
Zhuri now has a following of her own, with more than 400,000 followers on Instagram.
Now, in a record 24th NBA season, LeBron James has spent his first week as a Sixer under a spotlight, from Tuesday’s win over the defending champion Knicks to tonight’s regular-season home debut against the franchise where his NBA career and her story began.