LeBron and Bronny James savor the moment as they make NBA history

LOS ANGELES — In the hours before his NBA debut in 2003, LeBron James remembered, he was an “anxious” teenager with a churning stomach who had a tough time getting a good night’s sleep and took the court believing “everyone besides my family and friends wanted me to fail.”

Nearly 21 years later, as James prepared to make NBA history with his eldest son, Bronny, by becoming the first father-and-son duo to play together, the stress of youth was gone, replaced by the contentment that comes with checking a big item off one’s bucket list.

The 39-year-old Los Angeles Lakers star and his 20-year-old son shared their long-anticipated historic moment during the second quarter of a 110-103 season-opening victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday. In so doing, they became basketball’s answer to MLB stars Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr., who played together for the Seattle Mariners in 1990 and 1991. The universe was in perfect alignment for the James family: Bronny’s debut took place on his sister Zhuri’s 10th birthday, and the Griffeys enjoyed the multigenerational show from courtside seats.

“That was something I’ll never forget no matter how old I get or how my memory may fade,” LeBron James said. “Everything was just great today. Everything. From the moment I woke up, I saw my daughter before she went to school. Went to work, and saw my son at work.”

With Los Angeles holding a comfortable 51-35 lead with four minutes remaining in the second quarter, LeBron and Bronny James rose simultaneously from the Lakers’ bench and strode toward the scorer’s table to check into the game together. Before LeBron James had ripped off his warm-up shirt, the Los Angeles crowd rose to its feet for a standing ovation, rows of cellphone cameras held aloft to capture the moment.

Moments earlier, a TNT microphone captured LeBron James asking his son whether he was ready. Bronny James, a second-round draft pick in June, nodded yes, prompting a few final words of wisdom from the NBA’s oldest active player.

“You see the intensity, right? Just play carefree, though,” LeBron James said. “Don’t worry about mistakes. Just go out there and play hard.”

Bronny James’s time on center stage was brief: The rookie guard missed both of his shot attempts in a three-minute stint. He got on the stat sheet by chasing an offensive rebound, but he couldn’t connect on an open three-pointer that would have brought down the house. Once Minnesota cut Los Angeles’s lead to 53-42, Lakers Coach JJ Redick replaced Bronny James with starter D’Angelo Russell. Bronny James remained sidelined for the entire second half as the Timberwolves got within four points early in the fourth quarter before fading down the stretch.

Redick, who made his coaching debut after being hired in June, said he was “feeling out the game” for the right opportunity to play LeBron and Bronny James together.

“In the battle of competition, I was wondering during a dead ball why everybody started cheering so loud,” Redick said. “Then I realized what was happening, and I was like, ‘That’s cool.’ ”

Before tip-off, the Jameses and the Griffeys posed for group photographs at center court. Nearly a dozen members of the FaZe Clan esports organization sat near the court wearing Bronny James’s No. 9 jerseys to support their friend, and signs congratulating father and son dotted the lower bowl.

“We made history,” Ken Griffey Jr. told SiriusXM this week. “Now we get to watch history.”

The NBA has had many notable father-and-son duos — including Joe and Kobe Bryant and Dell and Stephen Curry — but none that overlapped before LeBron and Bronny James, who also shared the court during a preseason game this month.

LeBron James’s longevity, of course, made this possible. The four-time MVP, who was in his second NBA season when Bronny was born Oct. 6, 2004, is now one of only two players to play 22 seasons, joining Hall of Famer Vince Carter.

Bronny James was a fixture at NBA games as a young child, and he said he began to dream about an NBA career when he watched his father and the Cleveland Cavaliers defeat the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals. After four seasons at Sierra Canyon School, just north of Los Angeles, he emerged as a four-star recruit, was selected as a McDonald’s all-American and received a scholarship to play at the University of Southern California.

During a July 2023 workout at USC, Bronny James suffered sudden cardiac arrest that sidelined him until he was medically cleared to make his debut for the Trojans that December. Though the 6-foot-2 guard posted pedestrian averages of 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 25 games, he declared for the draft and was selected by the Lakers with the 55th pick. The Lakers expect Bronny James to spend portions of this season with the South Bay Lakers, their G League affiliate.

“When I think about the Los Angeles Lakers, I think about a franchise where basketball history unfolds and takes place,” General Manager Rob Pelinka said during draft week. “In the history of the NBA, there’s never been a father and a son that have shared an NBA basketball court. That feels like something that could be magical.”

LeBron and Bronny James soaked in the moment Tuesday by standing shoulder-to-shoulder for a televised postgame interview and sitting side-by-side for a news conference in front of dozens of reporters. As the pair walked together through the tunnel to the Lakers’ locker room, Bronny James received a hug from his mother, Savannah, who was joined by her two other children, Bryce and Zhuri.

Bronny James said he had tried to stay calm and “not mess up” despite all the opening night attention, which included a Nike commercial that featured LeBron James giving his son the rookie hazing treatment by filling his car with Fruity Pebbles cereal.

“Thank God that wasn’t [really] my car,” Bronny James said, smiling.

A beat later, LeBron James quipped: “He has multiple cars now. He opened that one and got in another one.”

The Lakers could laugh because they had controlled the action from start to finish against the Timberwolves, who underwent an offseason shake-up by trading Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo after reaching last year’s Western Conference finals. Anthony Davis led Los Angeles with a game-high 36 points to go with 16 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. LeBron James added 16 points, five rebounds and four assists to get his first win in seven season openers with the Lakers.

“I talked about [playing with Bronny] years and years ago,” LeBron James said, his satisfaction still plain as day. “I don’t know if it’s going to actually hit the both of us for a minute. We still had a job to do when we checked in. We weren’t trying to make it a circus or make it about us. We wanted to make it about the team.”