LOS ANGELES — When LeBron James made history two seasons ago, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, his eldest son, Bronny James, was sitting courtside along the baseline.
On Tuesday night, in the Los Angeles Lakers’ season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves, LeBron and Bronny made history by being on the court together.
They became the first father-son duo in NBA history to appear in a game together when they checked in with 4:00 left in the second quarter. LeBron started and had already played 13 minutes before he reentered with Bronny for the historic moment.
As the pair got up from the end of the bench and walked toward the scorer’s table, the Crypto.com Arena crowd began to buzz, erupting in a cheer when LeBron and Bronny tore off their warmups to officially step onto the court.
“That moment, us being at the scorer’s table together and checking in together, something I will never forget,” LeBron said in a joint postgame news conference with Bronny. “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.”
For Bronny, the occasion carried the extra weight of being the first regular-season game of his career.
“I tried not to focus on everything that was going on around me and tried to focus on going in as a rookie and not trying to mess up,” Bronny said. “But yeah, I totally did feel the energy, and I appreciate the Laker Nation for showing the support for me and my dad.”
The Lakers were outscored 7-2 in their first shift together, with Bronny missing an open 3 on the wing and also getting blocked by Rudy Gobert on a tip-in attempt after corralling an offensive rebound.
There was a roar of anticipation as Bronny attempted the 3, however, launching it after receiving the pass from his dad.
“We wanted that 3 to go in,” said Anthony Davis, who put up 36 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks to lead L.A. “Bron threw it to him and we wanted, obviously, for that to go in. But just looking at them checking in at the same time at the scorer’s table, it gave me like a little chills.”
Bronny checked out with 1:19 left in the half and did not return in the Lakers’ 110-103 win. He had one rebound and was 0-for-2 from the field.
LeBron finished with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
Bronny, selected by L.A. in the second round of the NBA draft with the No. 55 pick, struggled in the preseason, averaging 4.2 points on 29.7% shooting from the field. But he finished on a high note, scoring 17 points on 7-for-17 shooting with 4 rebounds and 3 steals on Friday in a loss at the Golden State Warriors.
First-year Lakers coach JJ Redick championed the rookie guard, however, playing him in all six of L.A.’s exhibition games, including trying out a lineup with Bronny and LeBron together briefly in the second quarter against the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 6.
Before the Wolves game, Redick said he was “thrilled to be a part” of the “historic” occasion of LeBron and Bronny entering the season on the same team.
Redick said he consulted the father and son to get their input on how they would prefer their first game action together to play out.
“We had a couple conversations around it,” Redick said. “I think everybody is on the same page. We want it to sort of make sense, and we want it to happen naturally and in the flow of a game.”
“We wanted that 3 to go in. Bron threw it to him and we wanted, obviously, for that to go in. But just looking at them checking in at the same time at the scorer’s table, it gave me like a little chills.”
Anthony Davis
L.A. started the second quarter on a 29-12 run, with LeBron and Bronny entering with their team holding momentum.
“We had a job to do when we checked in,” LeBron said. “We wasn’t trying to make it a circus. We weren’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.”
Sitting along the same baseline where Bronny watched his dad break Abdul-Jabbar’s record was another father-son duo who made history together. Ken Griffey Jr. and Ken Griffey Sr., the first father and son to play together in Major League Baseball, made an occasion out of it.
“To know that those guys will be in attendance tonight while me and Bronny are on the same team is a pretty cool moment in the history of sports,” LeBron said after L.A.’s morning shootaround.
LeBron and Bronny took a quick break from their pregame warmups to greet the Griffeys and pose for a photo on the court.
Tuesday’s contest was the fourth time in professional sports when the father-son instance occurred.
Besides the Griffeys, the Jameses joined hockey great Gordie Howe, who played with two of his sons, Mark and Marty, for the Hartford Whalers in 1980, the first time the family feat happened in the NHL. Tim Raines and Tim Raines Jr. also took the field together for the Baltimore Orioles on Oct. 4, 2001.
The Griffeys played together for the Seattle Mariners for two seasons, in 1990 and 1991, memorably hitting back-to-back home runs on Sept. 14, 1990.
“As my dad would say, you got to have longevity as an older guy and your son has got to be pretty good to get there pretty quick,” Ken Griffey Jr. told ESPN after the game.
The baseball slugger spoke about the origin of his relationship with LeBron James, a fellow Nike signature athlete.
“LeBron’s first Christmas [in the NBA] was in Orlando, and he spent it at my house,” he said. “So, we’ve been friends ever since he’s 18. I tell everybody, wherever he’s at, that’s where I’m a fan.”
The biggest gift for the Jameses on Tuesday beyond the playing time together was doing so during a victory.
“This is the first time we had a LeBron moment that was something huge and we won,” Davis said, referring to scoring milestones James had reached that came during losses. “Every other thing we’ve always lost, so it kind of kills the moment. But it was a special moment for everybody.”
