A running joke in the sports world for some time now has been how Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James and Houston Texans star defensive lineman Will Anderson Jr. look extremely similar. Jokes have been made about Anderson being LeBron James’ long, lost son.
That joke amplified on Friday night when the Lakers faced the Houston Rockets in Texas for Game 6 of the first round. Anderson was in attendance at the game, and even helped LeBron up from a baseline fall during the game, via The Hoop Central:
Will Anderson Jr. helped up LeBron James during the game. 🤣🤝
(h/t @TexansCommenter)
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) May 2, 2026
James was asked about the moment after the game, and he went right along with the jokes about Anderson and Bronny before praising the young Texans star:
“What was the moment like? The moment was pretty cool. Yeah I just said it’s good to see him. That’s my fourth child. Him and Bronny are twins and nobody knows it. Me and Savannah been trying to keep it under wraps for a long time,” James joked to Jonathan Alexander of The Houston Chronicle. “But no, no disrespect to his parents. Unbelievable football player, deserving of everything that he’s got. It was definitely good to see him.”
James has always made it known that he is in on the joke and is happy to be a part of it, but it has become an even more endearing part of him in the latter years of his career. Here, he perfectly brings up the running joke by saying that Anderson is a secret fourth child of him and Savannah James, Bronny’s twin.
But, of course, he ends it by crediting Anderson for his stellar play and recent massive extension with the Texans. He also confirmed, jokingly, that Anderson is not actually his fourth child.
LeBron James celebrating small victories
Beyond just running internet jokes, James has also been more openly appreciative of the little things in the later years of his career. In his true prime, he likely wouldn’t have made much mention of defeating the Rockets in the first round, as it would be on to the next. But now, he’s more happily appreciating the accomplishment.
“At this stage of my career, I think I’ve talked about just living in the moment a little bit more and being OK with celebrating the small victories,” James told reporters in Houston after the Game 6 victory.
“I think we should be proud of the way we played, the way we handled this. This is our first time in a playoff series together as a unit and obviously being without our MVP candidate and without AR for the first four games, we had some obstacles obviously.
“And I know they were out a couple of their guys as well. But I thought we answered the call, I thought we answered the challenge. For them to allow me to lead them, that means a lot to me.”
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