The Los Angeles Lakers take the court on Tuesday night to begin the 2024-25 NBA season with more than enough intriguing storylines to go around. Among the biggest is that it could become the first time in league history that a father and son have shared the court, as Bronny James and LeBron James are expected to play alongside one another.
This is a massive moment for the James family, as they have been through so much over the last year to get Bronny to this point. It was just over one year ago when the rookie guard suffered a cardiac arrest that resulted in the need for heart surgery. Bronny has said he is still working to get back to where he was before the incident.
So as LeBron prepares to take the court with his son, he couldn’t help but reflect on everything that led to this moment and the work that Bronny has put in over the last year, via Dan Woike of The L.A. Times:
“I mean, obviously we had a moment when he was drafted, we got an opportunity to be together as a family in New York when he was drafted by the Lakers. And we were thinking about not too long ago when the scare happened. And when he’s able to grace the NBA floor, if that’s tonight or whenever the case may be, it’ll be another one of those moments. Just to know the adversity that he went through and I’ve got a couple family members that have had heart surgeries, some older, some younger. And to know how long it takes to get back to yourself, to see him be able to play at a college Division I game the same year that he had heart surgery was like a ‘Wow’ moment. And I knew in that moment that there was nothing that was going to stop him from anything he wants to do. And he wanted to continue to play basketball. That was one of the first things he asked, he asked the doctors after his heart surgery when can he play again. Not how long is it going to take his heart to heal, or how long he was in surgery, none of those. He asked when can he play again. Before he went in (for recovery) that’s all his mindset was on was when can he be out there with his teammates again. I just knew the type of hard worker he is and the type of determined he is.”
The consistent theme among Bronny’s first few months as an NBA player has been that he is determined and a hard worker. Just about everyone has said those exact words to describe the Lakers rookie. And while LeBron has perhaps known it Bronny’s whole life, he got to see proof of it over the last year.
Bronny James expected to share court with LeBron on Opening Night
While head coach JJ Redick has been noncommittal about Bronny James getting into the game on Thursday, which makes sense considering his is a rookie second-round pick that won’t be in the Lakers’ rotation, the expectation is for him and LeBron to have their moment to essentially get it out of the way and focus on the rest of the season.
As Brian Windhorst reported on ESPN’s Get Up, that is expected to come at the beginning of the second quarter on Tuesday.
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