LeBron James and Bronny James officially made history as the first father-son duo to play together in an NBA game Tuesday night. The big moment came in the second quarter as the Los Angeles Lakers faced the Minnesota Timberwolves in their season opener. LeBron obviously started the game for L.A., whereas his rookie son came off the bench.
Pregame reporting suggested that the moment would come relatively early, and, sure enough, with 4:00 remaining in the second quarter, first-year Lakers head coach JJ Redick decided to pull the trigger.
He inserted Bronny to play alongside LeBron — they entered the game off the bench together — and one of the league legend’s long-time basketball dreams was finally fulfilled.
The debut for the younger James went reasonably well all things considered. While he didn’t score any points and the Lakers lost his 2:31 of playing time by five points, he didn’t look out of place. He nearly put back a miss by Anthony Davis, and he held his own defensively even against Minnesota star Anthony Edwards.
“Just going up to the scorer’s table with my dad, checking in with my dad, that’s a crazy moment I’ll never forget,” Bronny told TNT after the game about his historic debut.
He still has plenty of work to do, but looked OK against high-caliber NBA competition in his debut. Perhaps he can attribute that to advice from his father, who told him on the bench to simply play carefree.
The Lakers and the James camp set up this piece of NBA history all the way back in June. At that point Bronny was a prospect eligible for selection in the 2024 NBA Draft, but it was unclear where exactly he fell on most draft boards. Bronny was, at one point, a first-round prospect, but a disappointing year at USC coupled with a cardiac arrest incident before his collegiate career began knocked him down boards. Aside from the Lakers, the only team he is known to have worked out for was the Phoenix Suns.
When the second round of the NBA Draft came, ESPN’s Bob Myers reported on the draft broadcast that the James camp was informing teams — aside from the Lakers — not to select him. If they did, the plan was apparently for him to go play in Australia. Essentially, the James camp wanted Bronny to become a Laker, and when their selection arrived at pick No. 55, they made it happen. LeBron was technically set for free agency in July, but he re-signed in early July to set the stage for Tuesday night.
LeBron has made history throughout his legendary career. He is a four-time champion and MVP, the league’s all-time scoring leader and owner of a handful of other records as well. But Tuesday represented a more personal piece of history, a testament to everything from his longevity to his parenting. Enjoy this moment, because we may never see anything quite like it again.
