History was made in the Los Angeles Lakers’ Opening Night victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves as LeBron James and his son Bronny James became the first father-son duo to play together in NBA history. The moment came with four minutes remaining in the second quarter and the two shared the court for nearly three minutes.
It was an absolutely special moment and one that will go down forever in the history of basketball. It was expected that LeBron and Bronny would share the court early on in the year for the Lakers, but still to see them at the scorer’s table together was beautiful and the Lakers fans showered them with cheers.
LeBron spoke after the game about that moment, saying checking in with his son is something he will never forget.
“Mission No. 1 was for us to come out and play well and to win. It was my first win on opening night as a Laker. I wanted to get that done,” LeBron said. “I think, as a team, we played as close to 48 minutes of a complete game as well as we could play in a while, so that was great. The game within the game, obviously, that moment of us being at the scorers table together and checking in together is something I will never forget no matter how old I get, no matter how my memory may fade as I get older, whatever. I will never forget that moment.
“And also, my daughter, his little sister, her turning 10. Everything was just great today. Everything. Everything was great. From the moment I woke up, I saw my daughter before she went to school. Went to work, saw my son at work. Get to the game and just everything, man. The whole family. It was a great moment. For Laker Nation, the way we played tonight. Hopefully, we continue to play that brand of basketball all throughout the year, and for our family, it was a big one.”
This was beyond basketball for LeBron and was simply about being a father. As he said, the fact that it was also his daughter Zhuri’s 10th birthday only made this night that much more special. For as much pride as LeBron takes in his abilities on the basketball court, being a father is likely even more important to him.
When asked how different this moment was from other firsts in his career, he recognized it’s uniqueness while also making sure they were still focused on the task at hand.
“I mean, for obvious reasons. I mean, obviously this is first time in this beautiful history of the NBA that has ever happened has been on the same floor, let alone be on the same team, to be able to grace the floor together,” LeBron said.
“So that was just, I talked about it years and years ago, and for this moment to come, it’s pretty cool. I don’t know that it’s going to actually hit the both of us for a little minute where we really get to sit back. But, oh shoot, that was that was pretty crazy. But in the moment, like you said, 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 brand of basketball that the coaching staff and our teammates want us to play. We kept that, kept the main thing, the main thing we was on the floor, and that was good for all of us.”
There was almost a perfect on-court moment as well as LeBron made a great play to find Bronny wide open on the wing for a 3-pointer that looked perfect, but just rimmed out. It would have blown the roof off the Crypto.com Arena, but it just wasn’t meant to be on this night.
LeBron finished with 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks while Bronny missed both of his shot attempts but did record an offensive rebound in his NBA debut.
Lakers’ LeBron James reflects on Bronny James’ journey to NBA
What has been a bit forgotten about Bronny James is that he had a serious health issue prior to his lone collegiate season at USC. But that is certainly not lost on LeBron James himself and spoke on that when reflecting on Bronny’s journey to the Lakers.
Prior to the season opener, LeBron spoke on Bronny’s recovery from that time just to taking the court for the Trojans and then being drafted by the Lakers. LeBron spoke to Bronny’s mindset when that scare happened and praised his work ethic to get where he is now.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
