LeBron James on Trayvon Martin Shooting: 'I Just Started to Think About My Boys'

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James provided his thoughts on the February 2012 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in an upcoming episode of his docuseries Shut Up and Dribble that airs Saturday on Showtime.

TMZ Sports shared a notable quote from James in which he said he thought about his sons, Bronny and Bryce, when finding out what happened: "I'm sitting there and I'm reading all these different articles. I'm seeing all these different play-by-play. I'm seeing all these different stuff of what happened, what didn't happen, what could have happened to prevent this...and I just started to think about my boys, my sons."

CNN reported on Martin's death, noting former neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman shot the teenager and claimed self-defense. Zimmerman was eventually acquitted of a second-degree murder charge in 2013.

Darran Simon of CNN noted the case "spurred a movement and gave rise to a rallying cry that resonates with many today: '#BlackLivesMatter.'"

James was among those who expressed solidarity with Martin when he tweeted a photo of himself and his then-Miami Heat teammates with their hoodies up and the hashtag "#WeAreTrayvonMartin":

When he opened his I Promise school in Akron, Ohio, James, during an interview with CNN's Don Lemon, pointed to the Martin shooting as a turning point for him (h/t Moke Hamilton of USA Today).

"I think it starts with the Trayvon Martin situation and the reason it starts with that, I believe is because having kids of my own—having boys of my own—it hit home for me to see and to learn the story and to think that if my boy left home and he never returned," he said. "That kinda hit a switch. From that point on, I knew that my voice and my platform had to be used for more than just sports."