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Dave McMenamin, ESPN Staff Writer
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — When Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick first puts LeBron and Bronny James on the court in a game at the same time — whether it’s opening night against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday or later this season — NBA history will be made.
For LeBron, who is embarking on his 22nd season while his son starts his first, the time and place of that first shift together is inconsequential.
“Whenever it happens, it will happen,” he said after Lakers shootaround Tuesday morning. “If it’s tonight or if it’s down the line, whenever it happens, it will happen. But it’s been a treat, and just in preseason, the practices, just every day … just bringing him up to speed of what this professional life is all about and how to prepare every day as a professional.”
The history the 39-year-old LeBron spent time reflecting on hours before the 2024-25 season tipped off was everything Bronny, 20, went through to get to this point. About a year before the Lakers selected Bronny with the No. 55 pick in the second round, he suffered a cardiac arrest in July 2023 during a summer workout while preparing for his freshman season at USC.
“[It was] not too long ago that the scare happened,” LeBron said. “And when he’s able to grace an 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.
“I’ve had a couple of family members that have had heart surgeries. Some of them older, some of them younger. And to know how long it kind of takes to get back to yourself, to see him be able to play in a college Division I game the same year that he had heart surgery was, like, a ‘wow’ moment. And I knew that at that moment that there really was going to be nothing to stop him from getting to this — to anything that he wants to do. And he wanted to continue to play basketball.”
Continuing in the sport was the younger James’ top priority.
“One of the first things that he asked, he asked the doctors after his heart surgery, like, ‘When can I play again?'” LeBron recalled. “Not like, ‘How long is it going to take for my heart to heal?’ Or not, ‘How long was I in surgery?’ None of those. He asked, ‘When can I play again?'”
LeBron and Bronny played together once during the preseason, on Oct. 6 at the start of the second quarter against the Phoenix Suns. Bronny struggled for most of the exhibition slate but finished on a high note, scoring 17 points on 7-for-17 shooting with 4 rebounds and 3 steals against the Golden State Warriors.
Whether the father-son duo gets on the court together Tuesday or not, there will be a distinguished father-son pair in the crowd to watch the game. Ken Griffey Jr. said on “The Road to Cooperstown” podcast on SiriusXM that he will be attending the Lakers’ season opener with his dad, Ken Griffey Sr.
The Griffeys became the first father-son teammates in Major League Baseball history with the Seattle Mariners in 1990.
“I’ve been a big-time fan of Ken Griffey Jr. and then became a friend of Ken Griffey Jr. throughout my professional career,” LeBron said. “Just understanding the history of sports to be able to see what they were able to do. … So to be here today and 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 history of sports.”
The Griffeys famously hit back-to-back home runs for the Mariners on Sept. 14, 1990. LeBron was asked what the basketball version of that moment for him and Bronny to achieve.
“Probably two lobs,” LeBron said. “I catch a lob and then Bronny catches a lob, that probably be the equivalent of that. Obviously the long ball is something that’s big time in baseball, so probably two lobs.”