They’ve been father and son for the entirety of Bronny James’ life.
Now they’re teammates in the NBA. The Los Angeles Lakers selected Bronny James in June’s NBA draft to play with his father LeBron. The pair made their public debut as teammates on Monday at Lakers media day.
For LeBron, the moment marked the culmination of a dream he’s spoken of since Bronny emerged as a prospect on the prep scene. He was all smiles of the set of Spectrum Sportsnet Monday when Bronny joined him for a joint interview with both of them wearing their Lakers gear.
LeBron sported his traditional No. 23. Bronny was wearing No. 9 with “James Jr.” across the back.
‘Let’s get the tissue out’
“Just pure joy, man,” LeBron said when asked about his emotions. “I don’t have any words. I can speak about me. You guys ask me questions about me. When it comes to him, I’m just at a loss for words.
“Just super proud. Super proud of him to get to this point. He’s a man. He’s ready to go. Whatever questions you got for him, go ahead and let him have it.”
LeBron has already said that he doesn’t want Bronny calling him “dad” when they’re on the court. So what’s the plan with training camp slated to start on Tuesday?
“I haven’t gotten there yet,” Bronny said. “It’s probably gonna be, like, Bron. Bron would be the easiest.”
The father-son duo commenced with some friendly trash talk that carried over from a pickup game played last week. LeBron kept up the banter, giving Bronny a hard during while Bronny gave an interview to ESPN.
Both are clearly overjoyed with the moment. For an athlete’s parent, witnessing a child make it to the highest level of their sport is a dream come true. To do so as his teammate is another level altogether.
Now that LeBron and Bronny are officially teammates, the next step is getting down to the business of actual basketball. They’ll do so under a rookie head coach in JJ Redick, who will face immediate pressure to return the Lakers to championship contention after they lost in five games to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs last season.
Navigating the LeBron-Bronny dynamic will be one more challenge for Redick to figure out in his first season as a head coach at any level. Bronny was a backup as a freshman at USC last season and doesn’t project to play meaningful NBA minutes anytime soon.
The moment that LeBron and Bronny do take the court together for the first time will be a landmark moment in the NBA. Redick declined to commit to a plan for that moment during a news conference last week.
“We don’t have anything planned, per se, in terms of a commitment to do it this way,” Redick said, per the Associated Press. “We obviously have talked about it as a staff, and we’ve gotten into some specifics of what that might look like, but we haven’t committed to anything.
“And obviously there’s a discussion to be had once we’re all together, with Bronny and LeBron, too. They should be a part of that discussion as well.”
He also said that he doesn’t expect navigating the relationship to present a unique challenge to him as a coach.
“I don’t look at it as a challenge that’s unique from any other challenge of coaching a player or coaching a relationship,” Redick said.
We’ll see about that.
The Lakers make their preseason debut on Oct. 4 against the Minnesota Timberwolves. They open their regular season at home against that same Timberwolves team on Oct. 22 as they start the season with a three-game homestand. Will Bronny make his NBA debut alongside his dad before the Lakers hit the road?