LeBron James on Monday said that the historic prospect of playing alongside his eldest son Bronny for the Los Angeles Lakers has given him a new lease of life ahead of the upcoming NBA season.
LeBron James, 39, will tie Vince Carter’s record of playing 22 seasons in the NBA this year when he suits up for the Lakers after a summer in which he helped the US defend their Olympic gold medal in Paris.
At some point this season, LeBron James will make NBA history by playing alongside 19-year-old son Bronny, who was chosen by the Lakers with the 55th pick in the draft in June.
Photo: AP
LeBron James, who turns 40 in December, said he felt reinvigorated by the “pure joy” of being able to go to work with one of his children.
“It’s a lot of excitement, a pure joy, to be able to come to work every day, put in hard work with your son every day and be able to see him continue to grow,” he said at the Lakers media day in El Segundo, California. “We push each other. He pushes me. I push him. We push our teammates, and vice versa. So it’s just a very joyous moment not only for myself, but for our family. So it’s pretty awesome. Gives you a lot of life.”
LeBron James revealed that he had taken a relaxed approach to guiding his teenage son at home, revealing that Bronny was just as likely to be in his bedroom playing video games as taking advice from his superstar father.
“To be honest, if you have kids, at my age and his age, there’s not really much interaction going on on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “I mean, he comes down, he eats, he goes to his room, plays a video game. I’m down there with my wife, watching the movie. So it’s not like, you know: ‘Meet me at the table at five o’clock. We need to discuss work tomorrow.’ That doesn’t happen, but he’s been around the game of basketball since he was born. Obviously, I’ve played in the NBA longer than he’s been alive, so he understands the nuances of it, as far as just being around the game, but now he’s a man, and it’s time for him to learn and get better with that.”
LeBron James said being part of the US’ gold medal-winning team in Paris, when he formed part of a star-studded lineup alongside the likes of Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry, had convinced him that he still had plenty “left in the tank.”
“When you’re with 11 other unbelievable, great talents, some of the best talent we’ve ever seen, it gives you a lot of joy to be able to play the game, play it at a high level,” he said. “For myself individually, to go out there at my age, the miles that I have, and to be able to play at the level I played at, it gave me like: ‘Okay, I do have a lot in the tank, a lot, and I can help a big part of a team win the ultimate.’”
LeBron James added that the gold medal had fueled his hunger to play “meaningful basketball” again, four years after his last appearance in the NBA Finals in 2019-2020.
“It felt damn good to play meaningful basketball at the highest level,” he said, describing the hard-fought Olympic semi-final against Serbia and the final against hosts France as like “two Game 7s back-to-back.”
“You know that that fire and desire was brought back to me, that I was like: ‘Okay, this is what it was all about. This is why we all came together and called ourselves the Avengers,’” he said. “So to have that feeling again where you’re playing like meaningful basketball, every possession means something — if you make a mistake it burns you. That was good to relive that moment.”
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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