LeBron James and son Bronny play together for the Los Angeles Lakers

 

Another record. That’s what American basketball player LeBron James must have thought when he flew back to the United States with his teammates in August. The USA team had just won the Olympic basketball tournament in Paris – dream team, gold medal, what else? On top of that, the 39-year-old James became the oldest American basketball player to ever compete in the Olympic Games in France; it was James’ fourth Summer Games.

An exceptional athlete like him must run out of dreams at some point. James is a three-time Olympic champion, four-time NBA champion, and has been elected to the All-Star team every season since 2005, a selection of the league’s best players. And since last year he has been the record scorer in the world’s best basketball league, collecting 48,474 points since his debut as an 18-year-old. So has James achieved everything in his career? Almost.

An important voice in the fight for ethnic equality

When he joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018, James said he had one last big dream. He had long been the embodiment of the American dream come true. He, who grew up in poverty in Akron, Ohio, worked tirelessly on his talent as a youth in the Rust Belt, became a billionaire, the best basketball player of his time, perhaps in history. And also an influential person off the court. Particularly during Donald Trump’s presidency, he was an important voice in the fight for racial equality and against police violence.

“I have a dream,” James said at the time. He really wants to play on the same NBA team with one of his sons. Now, six years later, his dream is coming true. When the Lakers host the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first game of the new season on Wednesday night, LeBron will be on the floor with Bronny James unless something unforeseen happens. This makes him the first basketball player to play a regular NBA game with a son.

Bronny, 20, is the brother of Bryce, 19, and Zhuri, 9, the two other children of LeBron James and his wife Savannah Brinson. Like his father over 20 years ago, Bronny is already rich before he has played his first NBA game. He is said to have around $10 million, also thanks to advertising contracts with Nike.

LeBron James recognized his eldest son’s talent early on. In preparation for the new season, he said: “When I saw him playing basketball at the age of five, I said to Savannah: ‘He is special. He’s going to play in the NBA someday.’ My wife thought I was crazy.” The parents later sent Bronny to a private school in California. There he played on the school team and later in the high school league, where he got better and better.

But then a setback followed that seriously jeopardized his career: In July 2023, Bronny unexpectedly collapsed during training. It turned out at the hospital that he had suffered a cardiac arrest due to a congenital heart defect. Before the collapse, Bronny had been considered a contender for a top spot in the 2024 NBA Draft – even though he had yet to play a college game.

After the cardiac arrest, no one expected him to make his NBA debut this fall. But Bronny returned to the court last December and played a decent college season from then on. He then registered for the draft.

When the Lakers selected him late in the second round of the draft, many critics’ verdict was that Bronny had only been signed by the Los Angeles franchise because his father, LeBron, had used his influence. That’s not completely absurd. It is certain that LeBron James was involved in the election of the new Lakers coach JJ Redick. This is considered James’ confidant; The two produced a basketball podcast together before Redick took over the Lakers team in the summer.

Redick repeatedly raved about James Jr. during the preparation for the season, praising his game intelligence and willingness to learn. At the press conference immediately after the draft, he had already contradicted the opinion that the shooting guard had been preferred in the election: “We didn’t give Bronny anything at all, we brought him in because of his playing skills. He earned the commitment with hard work. Now he can become an excellent NBA player.”

What if Bronny is found wanting?

Such praise can motivate, but for Bronny it probably means one thing above all: pressure. In his first appearances in the pre-season it became clear that he is still a long way from the upper NBA level. When Bronny was on the court with his father for the first time against the Phoenix Suns, he only managed two rebounds in thirteen minutes.

The American TV channels don’t care. Since Bronny started playing on the Lakers team, they have shown every scene with him, no matter how insignificant, as a “highlight”. As if he were the league’s new attraction. A comment under a match summary on YouTube seemed like a mockery of the newcomer. “No Bronny Highlight?” asked one user. In other words: There was no sign of Bronny, he simply didn’t contribute anything to the Lakers’ 107:102 win against the Milwaukee Bucks.

In five test games for the Lakers, he was on the court for an average of twelve and a half minutes, scoring 1.6 points; his field throw rate of 20 percent was low.

Based on the first impressions, it can be assumed that Bronny will initially only receive a little playing time in everyday NBA life; Most of the time he should sit on the bench, or not even that. It would have made more sense for his development if he had added another college season. But then James senior would have had to continue to wait for his dream to come true.

With this in mind, one question will be particularly interesting: What happens if the Lakers club bosses decide Bronny James is too easy? Would roster planner Rob Pelinka dare to send him to the farm team in the G-League, the development league? And how would LeBron James react to such a demotion?

As beautiful as the fulfillment of LeBron James’ dream may seem at first glance, the touching father-son story is very explosive.