LOS ANGELES — When LeBron James made history two seasons ago, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, his eldest son, Bronny James, was sitting courtside along the baseline.
On Tuesday night, in the Los Angeles Lakers’ season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves, LeBron and Bronny made history by being on the court together.
They became the first father-son duo in NBA history to appear in a game together when they checked in together with 4:00 left in the second quarter. LeBron started and had already played 13 minutes before he reentered with Bronny for the historic moment.
As the pair got up from the end of the bench and walked toward the scorer’s table, the Crypto.com Arena crowd began to buzz, erupting in a cheer when LeBron and Bronny tore off their warmups to officially step onto the court.
The Lakers were outscored 7-2 in their first shift together, with Bronny missing an open 3 on the wing and also getting blocked by Rudy Gobert on a tip-in attempt after corralling an offensive rebound.
Bronny did not return to the game after playing three minutes, while LeBron finished with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. The Lakers won 110-103.
Bronny, selected by L.A. in the second round of the NBA draft with the No. 55 pick in June, struggled in the preseason, averaging 4.2 points on 29.7% from the field. But he finished on a high note, scoring 17 points on 7-for-17 shooting with 4 rebounds and 3 steals.
First-year Lakers coach JJ Redick championed the rookie guard, however, playing him in all six of L.A.’s exhibition games, including trying out a lineup with Bronny and LeBron together briefly in the second quarter against the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 6.
Before the Wolves game, Redick said he was “thrilled to be a part” of the “historic” occasion of LeBron and Bronny entering the season on the same team.
Redick said that he consulted the father and son to get their input on how they would prefer their first game action together to play out.
“We had a couple conversations around it,” Redick said. “I think everybody is on the same page. We want it to sort of make sense and we want it to happen naturally and in the flow of a game.”
Sitting along the same baseline where Bronny watched his dad break Abdul-Jabbar’s record was another father-son duo who made history together.
Ken Griffey Jr. and Ken Griffey Sr., the first father-son duo to play together in the MLB, made an occasion out of it.
To know that those guys will be in attendance tonight while me and Bronny are on the same team is a pretty cool moment in the history of sports,” LeBron said after L.A.’s morning shootaround.
LeBron and Bronny took a quick break from their pregame warmups to greet the Griffeys and pose for a photo on the court.
Tuesday was the fourth time in professional sports when the father-son instance occurred.
Besides the Griffeys, the Jameses joined hockey great Gordie Howe, who played with two of his sons, Mark and Marty, for the Hartford Whalers in 1980, the first time the family feat happened in the NHL. Tim Raines and Tim Raines Jr. also took the field together for the Baltimore Orioles on Oct. 4, 2001.
The Griffeys played together for the Seattle Mariners for two seasons in 1990 and 1991, memorably hitting back-to-back home runs on Sept. 14, 1990.
