LeBron and Bronny James made history as the first father-son duo in the NBA to play together

LOS ANGELES (AP) – LeBron James gave his 20-year-old son a pep talk before the Lakers got here off the bench. Amid growing cheers, they approached the scorer’s table together and immediately made basketball history.

LeBron and Bronny became the first father and son to play together in the NBA on Tuesday night Los Angeles Lakersopening of the season, fulfilling the dream established a couple of years ago by LeBron, the top scorer in the history of the league.

“That moment when we sat at the scorer’s table together and checked in together is a moment I will never forget,” LeBron said. “No matter how old I get, no matter how my memory may fade with age or whatever, I will never forget this moment.”

Father and son showed up at the same time for the match against Minnesota 4 minutes before the end of the second quarter, which caused an amazing ovation from the fans, aware of the enormity of this vital event. LeBron, 39, had already began the game and played 13 minutes before joining his 20-year-old son for about 2 1/2 minutes of motion.

LeBron James is certainly one of the best players in NBA history, a four-time champion and a 20-time All-Star, while LeBron James Jr. was chosen by the Lakers in the second round of the draft last summer. Are first father and son playing in the highest basketball league in the world at the same time, let alone being on the same team.

“Are you ready? You see the intensity, right? But just play carefree,” the father said to his son on the bench before they checked in, and the exchange was captured by TNT cameras and microphones. “Don’t worry about mistakes. Just go out and play hard.”

Their time on the court together was fast and furious, just as LeBron promised.

LeBron, who finished the night with 16 points, missed two long-range shots before dunking. Bronny had an early offensive rebound and missed a pass, and his first NBA jump shot moments later was a three-pointer that went just wide. Then, with 1:19 left in the second quarter, he called for one possession, which was met with one other ovation.

Bronny didn’t play again Lakers victory 110:103 over the Timberwolves.

“I tried not to focus on everything that was going on around me, but I tried to focus on coming into the game as a rookie and not trying to screw up,” Bronny said. “But yeah, I totally felt the energy and I appreciate Laker Nation for showing support for me and my dad.”

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After the final whistle commemorated the Lakers’ first win in the first game of LeBron’s seven seasons with the team, father and son also headed to the locker room together, but stopped in the tunnel to hug Savannah James, LeBron’s wife and Bronny’s mother. The entire family was in attendance to watch the story unfold – at least to have a good time younger sister Zhuri’s tenth birthday.

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 together in 51 games for the Seattle Mariners in 1990 and 1991 as baseball’s first father-son duo.

The Jameses and Griffeys met during the preliminary match warming up before some photos and a warm chat between two amazing families.

LeBron first talked about his dream of playing alongside Bronny a couple of years ago, when his oldest son was still in highschool. The dream became a reality when Bronny entered the draft as a young person after one college season and the Lakers grabbed him with the fifty fifth overall pick.

“I talked about it years ago and it’s pretty cool at this point,” LeBron said. “I do not know if it’s really going to hit us each for a minute, but after we actually sit down and cool down, it’s going to be really crazy. … But immediately, we still had work to do after we checked in. We didn’t want to turn it right into a circus. We didn’t want this to occur to us. We wanted to make it about the band.

LeBron and Bronny joined a small club of skilled athletes who played together on a father-son team. The Griffeys made history 34 years ago, and on September 14, 1990, they even scored a goal in the same match.

Hall-of-famer Tim Raines and his namesake’s son also achieved the feat with the Baltimore Orioles in 2001.

In hockey, Gordie Howe played alongside his two sons, Mark and Marty, for the Houston Eros and Team Canada of the WHA before sharing an NHL season with the Hartford Whalers in 1979-80, when Gordie was 51 years old.

While other family pairings on this list occurred late in their fathers’ careers, LeBron shows no signs of slowing down or regressing as he enters his record-setting twenty second NBA season.

Last 12 months, LeBron averaged over 25 points per game for his twentieth consecutive season and stays the most vital player for the Lakers, together with Anthony Davis, as they struggle to regain the form that won them the championship in 2020 and sent them to the Western Conference Finals in 2023

Bronny survived a cardiac arrest and open heart surgery in the summer of 2023, then played an abbreviated freshman season at the University of Southern California. He entered the draft anyway, and the Lakers were blissful to accomplish that he took advantage of the penultimate selection in a guard draft of 6 feet 2 inches.

LeBron spent the summer in Europe with Team USA, which won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, while Bronny played for the Lakers in the Summer League. They began practicing with the Lakers before training camp.

First the duo we played together in pre-seasonlogging 4 minutes during a game against Phoenix just outside Palm Springs earlier this month.

“It was a real pleasure,” LeBron said during Tuesday morning’s shootaround. “During the pre-season, training every day… introduces him to what professional life is all about and how to prepare every day as a professional.”

The Lakers were fully aware of the history they’d make with this mixture, and coach JJ Redick recently talked to the Jameses a couple of plan to make it occur early in the regular season.

The Griffeys’ presence likely made opening night inevitable, although Redick said the Lakers still wanted it to “happen organically, as the game went on.”

The Lakers are not looking for to speculate on how long Bronny will remain on their NBA roster. Los Angeles already has three other small guards on its roster, and Bronny likely needs regular playing time to elevate his game to consistent NBA levels.

These aspects collectively indicate that Bronny will likely soon join the G League’s South Bay Lakers affiliate. Both LeBron and Redick spoke positively about the South Bay team, saying that player development is a key a part of the Lakers organization.

Miami forward Kevin Love, who knew all of James’ children – Bronny, Bryce and Zhuri – from their days as LeBron’s teammate in Cleveland, said it was an “unbelievable moment” to see father and son playing together.

“I grew up a Mariners fan, so I got to see Griffey and then Griffey Sr. But this is a different situation because LeBron is still a top-five player in the league,” Love said. “This game, man. That’s why we have this TV deal ($76 billion). The plot and the things that happen like that is an unbelievable story. It’s really cool to see that.”

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AP basketball author Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed.