LeBron James shares advice to Bronny before taking the court together in NBA debut

With four minutes to play in the first half of Tuesday night’s season opener, LeBron and Bronny James made history. They checked in and took the court together against the Minnesota Timberwolves – and before the historic moment, Dad shared some advice with his son.

LeBron was wearing a microphone for TNT during the game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves. The cameras were rolling for an exchange while the two were on the bench, shortly before they became the first father-son duo to play in an NBA game.

“All ready?” LeBron asked Bronny. “You feel the intensity, right? Just play care-free, though. Don’t worry about mistakes. Just go out and play hard.”

"Just play carefree"

LeBron was mic'd up next to Bronny on the bench 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/x3uKYIt6YX

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) October 23, 2024

It was a long-awaited night for LeBron, who began his 22nd season against the Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena. He long discussed playing with Bronny in a regular-season game, although the two played in the preseason this year. Even as recently as July, he called it a “dream come true.”

Now, LeBron and Bronny James join MLB’s Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. as the father-son duos to play for the same team in the same game. In fact, the Griffeys were in attendance. It was a historic night in Los Angeles, but LeBron made clear even during shootaround on Tuesday he didn’t want to rush Bronny’s first NBA appearance.

The Lakers selected Bronny James with the No. 55 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft and new coach J.J. Redick pointed out some good things he saw during the pre-draft process. But it was just over a year ago James’ journey got thrown up into the air. He suffered cardiac arrest during a workout during the summer at USC, delaying the start of his freshman season.

LeBron James pointed out the significance of his son getting to the NBA after such an event. It adds to the perspective and magnitude of Tuesday’s first appearance on the court together.

“[It was] not too long ago that the scare happened,” LeBron said, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “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.”