Bronny James suffers cardiac arrest during practice at USC

Bronny James, son of NBA superstar LeBron James, collapsed on the basketball floor and had a cardiac arrest during practice at USC. The five-star freshman out of Cleveland was taken to the hospital and is now in stable condition.

The James family released a public statement following the incident.

“Yesterday while practicing Bronny James suffered a cardiac arrest,” the statement read. “Medical staff was able to treat Bronny and take him to the hospital. He is now in stable condition and no longer in ICU. We ask for respect and privacy for the James family and we will update media when there is more information. LeBron and Savannah wish to publicly send their deepest thanks and appreciation to the USC medical and athletic staff for their incredible work and dedication to the safety of their athletes.”

Sources tell TMZ Sports that a 911 call was made at 9:26 AM on Monday from USC’s practice facility, an ambulance rushing the student-athlete — unconscious at the time — to the hospital.

James was rated as the No. 11 overall prospect and No. 2 point guard in the final 2023 On3 Player Rankings. He signed with the Trojans over offers and interest from the likes of Ohio State and Memphis, among others.

The USC program dealt with a similar medical emergency last summer, as former blue-chip recruit Vince Iwuchukwu suffered major heart failure and collapsed during a team practice.

“I went to the workout pretty tired,” the four-star center recalls of the incident, via TrojanSports.com. “… I just felt off that day, off-kilter. I was having a great practice, [though]. Had some coaches in the gym, I think I was playing pretty well up until that point. It was a play, I got a rebound, passed it to the guard, running down the floor, caught a lob, after I caught the lob I came back down and was like, ‘Man, I’m tired. We got a water break, sat down and then everything just became dizzy and I was like, ‘Woah, it’s crazy’ and then [I collapsed].

“A lot of people ask me if there was pain in that moment. No pain in the moment, just felt really, really dizzy, just thought I fainted. … I woke, started saying, ‘I need my parents, need my sisters.’ I kind of had a feeling I knew something had happened. My first thought was I woke up from a long dream, and then I saw the court in front of me. I was like, ‘Oh, I’m on the court.’ Kind of from there I was like, ‘OK, something serious must have really happened.’ I had paramedics around me. … Thank God for the training staff here, the coaches, I’m here talking to you guys now.”

The four-star forward would ultimately return to live game action in January, averaging 13.8 minutes across 14 games with the Trojans to close out the year. He’d put up an average of 5.4 points and 2.5 rebounds per contest.

Best of luck to Bronny James in his recovery. Scary, scary situation.