Judge Puts James Back on Court

LeBron James will play his next game wearing the green and gold of Akron (Ohio) St. Vincent-St. Mary High rather than the colors of the NBA team that will select him with the top pick in the June draft.

A judge cleared the way for James to return to high school basketball Wednesday by temporarily blocking an athletic association’s ruling that barred the senior from playing the rest of the season for breaking amateur bylaws by accepting free sports jerseys from a clothing store.

Saying James stood to suffer “immediate and irreparable injury” by sitting out the remainder of the season, Summit County Judge James Williams issued a temporary restraining order that allows the 6-foot-8 swingman to rejoin his team immediately.

Williams ordered James to sit out one more game as part of a two-game suspension, but St. Vincent-St. Mary officials were allowed to choose the game. School officials said the 6-foot-8 swingman would sit out a Feb. 23 game against Toledo (Ohio) Scott -- the only team on the Fighting Irish’s remaining regular-season schedule with a losing record.

James and nationally top-ranked St. Vincent-St. Mary play nationally ranked Westchester on Saturday in the Isles Prime Time Shootout in Trenton, N.J. The Comets are widely considered the Fighting Irish’s biggest remaining threat to an unbeaten season.

“I’m glad he’s playing,” Westchester Coach Ed Azzam said. “It makes the game a lot more interesting and a lot more meaningful.”

James sat out one game after the Ohio High School Athletic Assn. declared him ineligible Friday for accepting two retro jerseys worth a combined $845. Without James, the Fighting Irish defeated Canton (Ohio) McKinley, 63-62.

Fred Nance, James’ attorney, said he was pleased with the judge’s ruling.

“We think the judge took a difficult situation and came up with a reasoned, balanced result,” Nance said. “I think it confirms that this young man’s eligibility should have never been revoked in the first place.”

Nance had told Williams during the hour-long hearing that James “didn’t want to let himself down, he didn’t want to let his team down, he didn’t want to let his school down.”

Nance did not fully pardon James for accepting the jerseys.

“He’s made mistakes,” the attorney said in the courtroom. “He’s an 18-year-old kid, but he didn’t deserve the ultimate sanction of losing his eligibility.”

Williams scheduled a preliminary hearing for Feb. 19, when he will decide whether to grant a permanent injunction or allow the case to go to trial.

St. Vincent-St. Mary’s officials said in a statement they were “gratified” by Williams’ decision. “Although we had hoped there would be no additional sanction,” the statement said, “we understand and accept the court’s imposition of a one-game playing suspension.”

James’ mother, Gloria, said in a statement that she looked “forward to getting the final hearing behind us so that LeBron can focus entirely on his schoolwork, basketball and his friends, just like any other teenager.”

OHSAA Commissioner Clair Muscaro said in a statement that his organization would “adhere to [the] decision and proceed accordingly in defending the OHSAA” at the preliminary hearing. Steven Craig, an attorney for the OHSAA, told Associated Press “there are some facts that are in dispute and we will put forth some evidence so the court can know wherein the truth lies.”

Muscaro had declared that James violated association rules stating that an athlete forfeits amateur status by “capitalizing on athletic fame by receiving money or gifts of monetary value” after accepting the jerseys in exchange for posing for pictures that were to be hung on the store’s walls.

Nance argued in court documents that “all LeBron did was receive a gift from a friend as congratulations for his academic achievements. Had LeBron wished to capitalize on his fame, the recompense could be in the millions of dollars.”

James returned the jerseys to the Cleveland clothing store.

St. Vincent-St. Mary (14-1) is undefeated but had to forfeit a victory in which James played because the OHSAA determined he had compromised his amateur status before the game.

If James were granted a permanent injunction, the victory would be reinstated.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.