The first father-son duo in NBA history has now been formed, as LeBron James and his first-born child, Bronny, have teamed up on the Los Angeles Lakers ahead of the 2024-25 season.
During media day, 39-year-old LeBron, who is entering into his 22nd year in the NBA, was seen side-by-side with his 19-year-old son, who was the No. 55 overall pick in this year's draft.
Bronny, wearing the #9 jersey and a pair of LeBron shoes, stood next to his dad, as both posed together for the cameras.
LeBron x Bronny at Lakers media day 👏
(via @NBA)pic.twitter.com/z7DrP0HFz4
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) September 30, 2024
When asked how he will address his father while on the court together, Bronny said he's still not quite sure what to call him, as LeBron shut down any possibility of being called "dad."
But he said more likely than not, "It's probably gonna be 'Bron.' Bron would be the easiest."
The joy of making history. #LakersMediaDay x @bibigoUSA pic.twitter.com/bDVcuodjA7
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) September 30, 2024
In view of this once-in-a-lifetime occurrence of having a father play in the NBA with their son, LeBron called it "pure joy."
"It's a lot of excitement. Just a pure joy."
LeBron's looking forward to playing with Bronny 🤝#NBAMediaDay pic.twitter.com/HGrjiuwi6U
— NBA (@NBA) September 30, 2024
"When it comes to him (Bronny), I'm just at a loss for words. Just super proud of him to be able to get to this point... He's a man, and he's ready to go."
To point out, there were a couple noteworthy moments the two shared while speaking to reporters. As they both gave their version of the infamous play at practice, that was narrated by Lakers GM Rob Pelinka last week, in which LeBron had evidently scored on Bronny and later took to social media saying, "Great defense. Better Offense."
The season hasn't even started and LeBron is already trash talking Bronny 😭 pic.twitter.com/5mL37WNiUG
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) September 25, 2024
Bronny on having to guard LeBron.
“He stepped outta bounds..”#LakersMediaDay#NBAMediaDay pic.twitter.com/GFzUA6FmDk— Team LeBron 👑 (@LeBronJames) September 30, 2024
Upon bringing this up, Bronny defended himself, "I looked at the film, and he did step out of bounds, but I'm not going to go there, go there right now."
LeBron responded, "What do you mean you're not going to go there right now? You just went there!"
As the NBA's all-time leading scorer then pointed out another play, in which he apparently stopped his son from scoring.
Bronny clapped back right away saying, "Nah that was a foul too, you slapped my whole arm."
In addition to the bantering, LeBron shared a story of when he knew that five-year-old Bronny was going to be an NBA player someday.
This story from LeBron about Bronny is pretty dope!
Give it a listen 👇 pic.twitter.com/zCYHD3wEY0
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) September 30, 2024
"Um little short story, when he [Bronny] was like five or six years old, he was playing on the little tiny tots league in our hometown of Akron, Ohio... He grabbed the rebound and drove coast to coast through the lane, through a couple of other kids, and laid it up and had a little trot back," LeBron said.
"I looked over at his mom, and I was like 'Oh, he's special.'"
The first chance to see both James Sr./Jr. take the court will be when the Lakers play their first preseason game vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves Friday, October 4 at 4:30 pm ET. Then the same two teams will play in the season opener at Crypto.com Arena on October 22 at 4:00 pm ET.
