LeBron James gave his 20-year-old son a pep talk before getting off the Lakers bench. Amid growing cheers, they walked together to the scorer's table and then walked straight into basketball history.
LeBron and Bronny became the first father and son to play together in the NBA on Tuesday night during the Los Angeles Lakers' first game of the season, fulfilling a dream made a few years ago by LeBron, the leading scorer in history. of the league.
“That moment, being at the scorer's table together and reviewing together, is a moment I will never forget,” LeBron said. “No matter how old I get, no matter how my memory fades as I get older or whatever, I will never forget that moment.”
Father and son arrived at the game against Minnesota simultaneously with four minutes left in the second quarter, prompting a standing ovation from a home crowd aware of the enormity of the milestone. LeBron, 39, had already started the game and played 13 minutes before teaming up with his 20-year-old son for about two and a half minutes of action.
LeBron James is one of the greatest players in NBA history, a four-time champion and 20-time All-Star, while LeBron James Jr. was a second-round pick of the Lakers last summer. They are the first father and son to play in the world's top basketball league at the same time, let alone on the same team.
“Are you all ready? You see the intensity, right? But play without worries,” the father told his son on the bench before checking in, an exchange captured by TNT cameras and microphones. “Don't worry about mistakes. “Just go out there and play hard.”
Their time together on the court was fast and furious, just as LeBron promised.
LeBron, who finished the night with 16 points, missed two shots from the perimeter before dunking. Bronny had an early offensive rebound and missed a tip-in, and his first NBA jump shot moments later was a 3-pointer that fell short. He checked one possession later with 1:19 left in the second quarter and received another ovation.
Bronny did not play again in the Lakers' 110-103 victory over the Timberwolves.
“[I] I tried not to focus on everything going on around me, and I tried to focus on coming in as a rookie and not trying to mess up,” Bronny said. “But yeah, I totally felt the energy, and I appreciate Laker Nation for showing support for me and my dad.”
After the final whistle in the Lakers' first opening night victory in LeBron's seven seasons with the team, father and son also headed to the locker room together, but not before stopping in the tunnel to hug Savannah James, wife of LeBron and mother of Bronny. The whole family was present to see the story, on little sister Zhuri's 10th birthday no less.
Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. were also on the field at the Lakers' downtown stadium to witness the same history they made in Major League Baseball. The two sluggers played 51 games together for the Seattle Mariners in 1990 and 1991 as baseball's first father-son duo.
The Jameses and Griffeys gathered during pregame warmups for some photos and a warm chat between two notable family lines.
LeBron first spoke about his dream of playing alongside Bronny a few years ago, when his oldest son was still in high school. The dream became a reality after Bronny entered the draft as a teenager following a college season, and the Lakers selected him with the 55th overall pick.
“I talked about it years and years ago, and for this moment to come, it's great,” LeBron said. “I don't know if it'll really affect both of us for a minute, but when we can actually sit back and take it in, it's pretty crazy. But at this point, we still had work to do.” when we register. We weren't trying to turn it into a circus. We weren't trying to make it about us. “We wanted to make it about the team.”
LeBron and Bronny joined a small club of professional athletes, father and son, who played together. The Griffeys made history 34 years ago and even hit a home run in the same game on September 14, 1990.
Baseball Hall of Famer Tim Raines and his namesake son also accomplished the feat with the Baltimore Orioles in 2001.
In hockey, Gordie Howe played alongside his two sons, Mark and Marty, with the WHA's Houston Eros and Team Canada before an NHL season together with the Hartford Whalers in 1979-80, when Gordie was 51 years old. .
While the other family pairings on this list occurred late in the parents' careers, LeBron shows no signs of slowing down or regressing as he enters his NBA record-tying 22nd season.
LeBron averaged more than 25 points per game last year for the 20th consecutive season, and remains the Lakers' most important player alongside Anthony Davis as they try to regain the form that won a championship in 2020 and took them to the Conference Finals. West. in 2023.
Bronny survived cardiac arrest and open heart surgery in the summer of 2023, and went on to play a truncated freshman season at the University of Southern California. He declared for the draft anyway, and the Lakers eagerly used the draft's fourth pick on the 6-foot-2 guard.
LeBron spent the summer in Europe with the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the Paris Olympics, while Bronny played for the Lakers in the summer league. They began practicing together with the Lakers before training camp.
The duo played together for the first time in the preseason, logging four minutes during a game against Phoenix outside Palm Springs earlier this month.
“It's been a pleasure,” LeBron said at Tuesday morning's shootaround. “In the preseason, in practices, every day… updating him on what this professional life is about and how to prepare every day as a professional.”
The Lakers were fully aware of the story they would make with this pairing, and coach JJ Redick recently spoke with the Jameses about a plan to make this happen early in the regular season.
The Griffeys' presence probably made opening night inevitable, although Redick said the Lakers still wanted it to “happen naturally, in the flow of the game.”
The Lakers have declined to speculate on how long Bronny will remain on their NBA roster. Los Angeles already has three other small point guards on its roster, and Bronny likely needs regular playing time to elevate his game to a consistent NBA standard.
Those factors add up to indicate that Bronny is likely to join the South Bay Lakers G League affiliate at some point soon. LeBron and Redick have spoken positively about the South Bay team and said player development is a key part of the Lakers organization.
Miami forward Kevin Love, who knew all of James' children (Bronny, Bryce and Zhuri) from his time as LeBron's teammate in Cleveland, said it was “an incredible moment” to see father and son play together.
“I grew up a Mariners fan, so I got to watch Griffey and then Griffey Sr. But this is different, because LeBron is still one of the five best players in the league,” Love said. “This game, man. That's why we have that [$76 billion US] Television offer. The stories and the things that happen like that, it's an incredible story. “It’s really cool to see.”