Bronny James celebrated a birthday he will never forget on Sunday, ushering in the 20th year of his life with a special moment the NBA has never seen before. The Los Angeles Lakers rookie shared the court with his father and teammate, LeBron James, in a preseason game versus the Phoenix Suns, eliciting heartfelt reactions from those who know him most. He is not allowing himself to outwardly get swept up by the surreal occasion, however.
When asked how he viewed LeBron when the two finally got on the floor together, Bronny offered an amusingly straightforward response.
“I'm always thinking about, ‘That's my Dad' because that's literally my dad,” he told the media postgame after the Lakers' 118-114 loss to the Suns, via ClutchPoints (originally CyrusTheVirus). “When I'm playing, he's just my teammate. That's all I'm thinking at that point.”
"I'm always thinking about, 'That's my Dad' because that's literally my dad. When I'm playing, he's just my teammate. That's all I'm thinking at that point." Lakers rookie Bronny James on sharing the court with his father LeBron last night 😅
Will Lakers' Bronny James prove his skeptics wrong?
Humor aside, James knows that eyes are on him at all times. He clearly wants to convey an image of professionalism and strength. No reasonable person would blame him for being a bit flustered by the magnitude of playing an NBA preseason matchup with the man who helped bring him into the world, but the former USC guard is doing his best to downplay the father-son narrative as much as possible.
That will be much harder to do if James struggles on the court, however. A pedestrian showing like the one he had on Sunday– zero points on 0-of-1 shooting with two rebounds and three fouls in 13 minutes– will further stir up the “LeBron got Bronny into the NBA” chatter. Both men, especially the younger James, must push past the criticism.
Expectations are reasonably low for the second-round draft pick's first NBA campaign, so many Lakers fans will be patient with his progression. The hope is that he can provide valuable defensive contributions over the course of the 2024-25 season and eventually develop into an adequate offensive player. The tutelage of an all-time great should theoretically help on that front.
But Bronny James will emphasize his relationship with LeBron the teammate rather than LeBron the father. At least publicly.
