LeBron James and Bronny James on Tuesday night became the first father and son to play in the NBA together during the Los Angeles Lakers’ 110-103 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Before they rose from the bench, the 39-year-old superstar gave his 20-year-old son a pep talk. Amid rising cheers, they walked together to the scorer’s table — and then they stepped straight into basketball history, fulfilling a dream set out a few years ago by LeBron James, the top scorer in league history.
“That moment, us being at the scorer’s table together and checking in together, it’s a moment I’m never going to forget,” LeBron James said. “No matter how old I get, no matter how my memory may fade as I get older or whatever, I will never forget that moment.”
Photo: Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images / USA Today
The father and son checked into the game simultaneously with four minutes left in the second quarter, prompting a big ovation from a home crowd aware of the enormity of the milestone. LeBron James had already started the game and played 13 minutes before he teamed up with his son for almost two-and-a-half minutes.
LeBron James is one of the greatest players in NBA history, a four-time champion and 20-time All-Star, while Bronny James was a second-round pick by 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.
“Y’all ready? You see the intensity, right? Just play carefree, though,” the father told his son on the bench before they checked in, an exchange captured by the TNT cameras and microphones. “Don’t worry about mistakes. Just go out and play hard.”
Their time on court together was fast and furious, just as LeBron James promised.
LeBron James, who finished the night with 16 points, missed two perimeter shots before making a dunk. Bronny James had an early offensive rebound and missed a tip-in, and his first NBA jump shot moments later was a three-pointer that came up just short. He checked out one possession later with 1 minute, 19 seconds left in the second quarter, getting another ovation.
Bronny James said he “tried not to focus on everything that’s going on around me, and tried to focus on going in as a rookie and not trying to mess up.”
After the final whistle on the Lakers’ first opening-night victory in LeBron James’ seven seasons with the team, the father and son duo headed to the locker room together — but not before stopping in the tunnel to hug Savannah James, LeBron James’ wife and Bronny James’ mother. The entire family was in attendance to watch history — on little sister Zhuri’s 10th birthday, no less.
Ken Griffey Sr and Ken Griffey Jr were also courtside to witness the same history they made in the MLB, when the two sluggers played 51 games together for the Seattle Mariners in 1990 and 1991 as baseball’s first father-son duo.
LeBron and Bronny James joined a small club of father-son professional athletes who played together. The Griffeys made history 34 years ago, and they even homered in the same game on Sept. 14, 1990, while Baseball Hall of Famer Tim Raines and his namesake son also accomplished the feat with the Baltimore Orioles in 2001.
In ice hockey, Gordie Howe played alongside his two sons, Mark and Marty, with the WHA’s Houston Aeros and Team Canada before one NHL season together on the Hartford Whalers in 1979-1980, when Gordie was 51.
The Lakers have declined to speculate on how long Bronny James would stay on their NBA roster. Los Angeles already has three other small guards, and Bronny James likely needs regular playing time to raise his game to a consistent NBA standard.
Those factors indicate that he would likely to join the affiliate South Bay Lakers of the G League at some point soon.
Meanwhile, in the NBA’s other opener, Jayson Tatum continued Boston’s Banner 18 celebration by scoring 37 points and making eight of the Celtics’ NBA record-tying 29 three-pointers in their a 132-109 victory over the New York Knicks.
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