LOS ANGELES — As LeBron James and Bronny James walked from the scorer’s table onto the court late in the second quarter of the Lakers’ season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves, they also walked their way into history.
LeBron and Bronny became the first father and son to play simultaneously in an NBA game during Tuesday night’s 110-103 victory over the Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena.
And they did it as teammates, checking in together.
“Mission No. 1 was for us to come out and play well and win,” LeBron said. “The game within the game, obviously that moment, us being at the scorer’s table together and checking in together, something I will never forget, 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.”
LeBron, 39, and Bronny, 20, checked into the game together with four minutes left in the second quarter, prompting a big ovation from a home crowd aware of the enormity of the milestone.
“I’d say so,” Bronny responded when asked whether he was able to take in the moment. “Tried not to focus on everything that’s going on around me and try to focus on going in as a rookie and not trying to mess up. I totally did feel the energy and I appreciate the Laker Nation for showing the support for me and my dad.”
Bronny added about his NBA debut: “A little anxious going into it, like you said, that first game stepping on the court. It’s a little nerve-wracking, but, once I stepped on the court, got up and down a couple times, it all went away.”
LeBron had already started the game and played 13 minutes before he teamed up with his son to make history.
“Y’all ready? You see the intensity, right? Just play carefree, though,” father told 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.”
They played 2½ minutes on the court together, and LeBron missed two perimeter shots before making a dunk. Bronny had an early rebound and missed a tip-in.
Bronny’s first NBA jump shot was a 3-point attempt that came up just short. He checked out with 1:19 left, getting another ovation.
They both missed shots that would have counted as assists from the other during their brief stint together.
Redick said throughout preseason and even before Tuesday’s game that everyone wanted the duo’s first time on the court together to be natural and within the flow of the game.
“In the battle of competition I was wondering during a dead ball why everybody started cheering so loud and then I realized what was happening,” Redick said. “And I was like, ‘oh, that’s cool, that’s cool.’ We felt like in terms of the feel of the game being able to play those last few minutes with those two guys together – [Austin Reaves] was on the floor, [Anthony Davis] was on the floor, obviously LeBron was on the floor – it presented an opportunity for Bronny.
“He’s played well, he’s competed throughout preseason, just to give him a chance to get it going in a regular season game. He played well.”
There weren’t many firsts left to accomplish for LeBron, the league’s all-time leading scorer and four-time MVP who is in his 22nd NBA season.
Tuesday provided an opportunity for at least one more.
“I don’t know that it’s actually going to hit the both of us for a little minute where we really get to sit back and be like, ‘Oh, sheesh, that was pretty, that’s pretty crazy,’” LeBron said. “But in the moment, we still had a job to do when we checked in. We wasn’t trying to make it a circus. We wasn’t trying to make it about us. We wanted to make it about the team.
“For us to go out there and continue to play the game, the brand of basketball that the coaching staff and our teammates wanted us to play. We kept that. We kept the main thing while we was on the floor. And that was good for all of us.”
After the game ended, father and son also headed to the locker room together – but not before stopping in the tunnel to hug Savannah James, LeBron’s wife and Bronny’s mother. The entire family was in attendance to watch history – on little sister Zhuri’s 10th birthday, no less.
While saying that the moment they first shared the court didn’t need to happen on the league’s opening night, the elder James said during the team’s morning shootaround that the process to the moment he shared with his son has been a “treat.”
“Just in preseason, the practices, just every day,” LeBron said. “Just bringing him up to speed of what this professional life is all about and how to prepare every day as a professional.”
LeBron and Bronny also shared the court during the preseason in an exhibition game against the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 6 in Palm Desert , playing four minutes alongside one another.
But this was different because it was officially recorded in the record books.
LeBron spent time Tuesday morning reflecting on the journey that Bronny went through leading into Tuesday.
Bronny suffered a cardiac arrest during a workout in July 2023 and had surgery before making his return to the court and college debut with USC in a Dec. 10 loss to Long Beach State.
Six months after his collegiate debut, the Lakers selected Bronny with the No. 55 pick in the NBA draft in June.
“When he’s able to grace an NBA floor, if that’s [Tuesday] or whenever the case may be, it’ll be another one of those moments just to know the adversity that he went through,” LeBron said. “I’ve had a couple of family members that have had heart surgeries. And to know how long it takes to get back to yourself, to see him be able to play in a college Division I game the same year that he had heart surgery was, like, a ‘wow’ moment.
“And I knew that at that moment that there was really going to be nothing to stop him from getting to this – to anything that he wants to do. And I wanted to continue to play basketball.”
Bronny said on Monday he hasn’t been able to reflect on his journey yet.
“I don’t feel like there will be time to do all that,” Bronny said. “Especially when you’re checking in the heat of the moment, so, I’ll probably take time to do that afterwards.”
There was another famous father-son duo in attendance for the history LeBron and Bronny made.
Ken Griffey Jr. and Ken Griffey Sr. were at Tuesday’s game, following through with the younger Griffey’s comment to “People” magazine last summer that they would be in attendance if the James duo played together.
The Griffeys became the first father-son teammates in MLB history with the Seattle Mariners in 1990.
“I’ve been a big-time fan of Ken Griffey Jr. and then became a friend of Ken Griffey Jr. throughout my professional career,” LeBron said. “Just understanding the history of sports to be able to see what they were able to do going to do … to be here [Tuesday] and to know that those guys will be in attendance while me and Bronny are on the same team is a pretty cool moment in [the] history of sports.”
The Jameses and the Griffeys met up during pregame warmups for some photos and a warm chat between two remarkable family lines.
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LeBron and Bronny joined a small club of father-son professional athletes who played together. The Griffeys first made history 34 years ago, and they even homered in the same game on Sept. 14, 1990.
Baseball Hall of Famer Tim Raines and his namesake son also accomplished the feat with the Baltimore Orioles in 2001.
In 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 1979-80, when Gordie was 51.
The Lakers have declined to speculate on how long Bronny will stay on their NBA roster. The team also has point guards D’Angelo Russell, Gabe Vincent and Jalen Hood-Schifino, which likely makes minutes scarce for Bronny, who likely needs regular playing time to raise his game to a consistent NBA standard.
Those factors indicate Bronny is likely to end up with the South Bay Lakers of the G League at some point soon. LeBron and Redick have both spoken positively about the South Bay team, saying that player development is a key part of the Lakers’ organization.
