Teammates LeBron and Bronny James make history as the NBA’s first father-son duo-ZoomTech News

Late within the second quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ season opener, LeBron and Bronny James stepped onto the basketball courtroom and into the historical past books as the primary father-son duo to play collectively in an NBA sport, not to mention on the identical crew.

It was a second many years in the making.

The elder James, who was in his second NBA season when Bronny was born, started his record-tying 22nd season this week. The 39-year-old is the league’s all-time main scorer and extensively thought-about one of many biggest basketball gamers of all time, with 4 NBA championships and 4 NBA MVP titles below his belt.

He joined the Lakers in 2018. The crew drafted the youthful James (full identify: LeBron James Jr.) this summer time as its second-round choose after he had performed only one season with the College of Southern California.

The Jameses performed collectively for the primary time throughout a preseason sport in opposition to the Phoenix Suns earlier this month, which occurred to fall on Bronny’s twentieth birthday. However the true record-making and fanfare got here on Tuesday when the Lakers confronted off in opposition to the Minnesota Timberwolves in LA.

With 4 minutes left within the second quarter, each Jameses substituted into the game together, shedding their warm-up jackets as the sector full of cheers. A microphone captured their exchange on the bench moments beforehand.

“You see the depth, proper?” LeBron requested, prompting nods from Bronny. “Simply play care-free, although. Don’t fret about errors, simply go on the market and play laborious.”

The 2 shared the court for about 2 ½ minutes, which was Bronny’s solely enjoying time of the evening. He missed two shot makes an attempt however had one rebound, whereas his father added 16 factors, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

The Lakers went on to win 110-103, LeBron’s first opening-night win in all his years on the crew. Nevertheless it was these couple of minutes of shared enjoying time that meant probably the most.

“It’s at all times been household over every thing. I’ve misplaced a variety of time due to this league and committing to this league, being on the street at instances and lacking a variety of [Bronny’s] issues, Bryce’s issues and Zhuri’s issues,” LeBron stated in a post-game interview, referring to his youngsters. “To have the ability to have this second the place I am working nonetheless and I can work alongside my son is likely one of the biggest presents I’ve ever gotten from the person above, and I am gonna take full benefit of it.”

Bronny stated checking in on the scorer’s desk along with his dad was a “loopy second I’ll always remember,” including, “I’m simply extraordinarily grateful for every thing.”

Bronny’s debut wasn’t with out some playful hazing: Earlier within the day, his dad tweeted out a Nike ad through which he fills his son’s automotive with cereal, then calls out “Hey rook! You higher not be late,” and tells him to scrub up earlier than driving away from the mess.

“Yo, are you severe?” Bronny replies, including, “You’re too outdated for this.”

In a candy coincidence, Tuesday was additionally the 10th birthday of LeBron’s daughter (and Bronny’s sister) Zhuri, who was in attendance for the sport. LeBron later said that made the day all of the extra particular.

“Every part was simply nice right this moment,” he stated. “From the second I awoke, I noticed my daughter earlier than she went to high school. Went to work, noticed my son at work. Get to the sport and simply every thing, man. The entire household. It was an incredible second.”

Solely a handful of different father-son duos have been teammates in North American professional sports activities

Additionally watching — and filming excitedly — from the stands on Tuesday have been Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr., the first father-son duo to play collectively within the MLB. They performed for the Seattle Mariners in 1990 and 1991.

“It’s an enormous deal for my dad and I to be there,” Griffey Jr. told The Highway to Cooperstown podcast earlier this week. “We made historical past, now we get to look at historical past.”

The Jameses are becoming a member of a really brief listing of father-son duos who’ve performed collectively in main American sports activities.

Hockey nice Gordie Howe performed with his sons Mark and Marty for the WHA’s Houston Aeros in 1973-1974 and the NHL’s Hartford Whalers within the 1979-1980 season.

In August 2001, baseball gamers Tim Raines Sr. and Tim Raines Jr. grew to become the primary father-son duo to play against each other in a daily season skilled sport when the Triple-A Worldwide League’s Ottawa Lynx performed the Rochester Purple Wings.

That October, a collection of occasions — together with a scheduling delay after 9/11, accidents and a brief commerce by managers who knew of Raines Sr.’s want to play along with his son — led to each Raineses playing for the Baltimore Orioles over the past week of the season.

They performed in 4 video games collectively, beginning collectively within the outfield in two of them.

“I had talked publicly for years about how I needed to stay round lengthy sufficient to play concurrently Tim Jr.,” Raines Sr. — who retired after the 2002 season — wrote in his 2017 autobiography Rock Stable. “It by no means actually occurred to me that we might ever have a possibility to play on the identical crew.”

Raines Sr. welcomed the Jameses to that membership in a tweet on Wednesday morning.

“It was an absolute pleasure to play with my son,” he wrote. “Congratulations to [LeBron and Bronny] on making NBA historical past and having that particular second collectively.”