LeBron James and Bronny James officially made history as the first father-son duo to play together in an NBA game on Tuesday night. The big moment came in the second quarter as the Los Angeles Lakers took on the Minnesota Timberwolves in their season opener. LeBron obviously started the game for Los Angeles, while his rookie son came off the bench.
Pregame reports suggested the moment would come relatively early and, sure enough, with 4 minutes left in the second quarter, first-year Lakers head coach JJ Redick decided to press the trigger.
He slotted Bronny in to play alongside LeBron — they entered the game together off the bench — and one of the basketball legend’s longtime dreams finally came true.
Young James’ debut went pretty well all things considered. Even though 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 turned away a miss from Anthony Davis, and he held his own defensively even against Minnesota star Anthony Edwards.
“Just walking up to the scorer’s table with my dad, checking in with my dad, it’s a crazy moment that I’ll never forget,” Bronny told TNT after the game about his historic debut.
He still has a lot of work to do, but he looked good against high-caliber NBA competition in his debut. Perhaps he can attribute this to the advice of his father, who told him on the bench to just play without worries.
The Lakers and the James camp put together this piece of NBA history back in June. At this point, Bronny was a prospect eligible for selection in the 2024 NBA Draft, but it was unclear where he stood on most draft boards. Bronny was, at one point, a first-round prospect, but a disappointing year at USC coupled with a cardiac arrest before the start of his college career brought him down. Besides the Lakers, the only team he worked for was the Phoenix Suns.
When the second round of the NBA draft took place, ESPN’s Bob Myers reported during the draft broadcast that James’ camp was informing teams — except the Lakers — not to select him. If they did, the plan apparently was for him to go play in Australia. Essentially, James’ camp wanted Bronny to become a Laker, and when their selection came down to pick No. 55, they made it happen. LeBron was technically set to hit free agency in July, but he resigned in early July to set the stage for Tuesday night.
LeBron made history throughout his legendary career. He is a four-time champion and MVP, the league’s all-time leading scorer and owner of a handful of other records. 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 like this again.