EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – LeBron James is beginning his 22nd training camp this week with the Los Angeles Lakers, and this one will be a unique experience.
The NBA's career scoring leader is sharing a locker room and a court with Bronny James, his 19-year-old son and the Lakers’ second-round draft pick. They'll soon become the first father and son in NBA history to play together, fulfilling an aspiration first expressed by LeBron several years ago.
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The 20-time All-Star didn't downplay his excitement Monday to see one of his few remaining basketball dreams coming true.
“There’s a lot of excitement,” LeBron said. “It’s pure joy, to be honest, to be able to come to work every day, put in the hard work with your son every day and be able to see him continue to grow. We push each other. He pushes me, I push him. We push our teammates. Just a very joyous moment, not only for myself, but for our family.”
Father and son wore the Lakers' gold uniforms together at the team's media day, posing for innumerable photos and giving interviews that showcased the easy banter of family. Bronny's new No. 9 jersey reads “JAMES JR.” on the back, in a nod to his full name, LeBron James Jr.
Their partnership is a dream for the 39-year-old LeBron, but it's been largely surreal for Bronny, who turns 20 on Sunday. After growing up and excelling at basketball in his famous father's shadow, Bronny is balancing the excitement of reaching the NBA with the task of adjustment to the unprecedented challenge of being in the same uniform as his devoted father.
“I think I’m most looking forward to practice, just going head to head with each other,” Bronny said. “That’s such a crazy feeling, to be in practice with your dad and competing at a high level. But on the other side of that, having to go against LeBron James is kind of a lot in practice every day. But yeah, I'm looking forward to it as well.”
They might be working together, but every day will not be Take-Your-Son-to-Work Day for LeBron: Bronny says he is “definitely not” driving from their home to Lakers practices with his father.
“It’s already so much that we’ve been grouped together as,” Bronny said with a big grin. “I’d like to stay as (far) away as possible from that guy.”
LeBron gets it, he said with a grimace.
“To be honest, if you have kids, I mean, at my age and his age, there’s not really much interaction going on on a day-to-day basis,” LeBron said. “He comes down, he eats, he goes to his room, plays a video game. If I’m down there with my wife watching a movie, he’ll stop in. So it’s not much, like, ‘Meet me at the table at 5 o’clock. We need to discuss work tomorrow.’ That doesn’t happen."
LeBron affirmed his offseason declaration on his YouTube talk show that Bronny isn’t allowed to call him “Dad” at work. Bronny isn’t so sure, although he admits he’ll try to say “Bron.”
“Whatever comes out of my mouth when I’m trying to speak to him is what he’s going to accept,” Bronny said with a grin. “Doesn’t really mean much. I haven’t really addressed him in any way yet, so we’ll see how it goes.”
New Lakers coach JJ Redick said last week that he'll make a plan with the family for their historic appearance together early in the regular season. It's also assumed that Bronny will spend much of the upcoming season with the South Bay Lakers of the G League, improving his skills after he played sparingly in his only college season at Southern California.
“If we get a couple of opportunities on the floor throughout the course of the season, obviously that’s going to be amazing,” LeBron said. “It will be awesome. We’ll wait for that moment when it happens, and then go from there.”
LeBron has been a 6-foot-9 physical force of nature during his NBA career, and he has realistic goals for his 6-foot-2 son.
“Seeing him continue to grow as a basketball player, no matter if it’s here with us or if it’s down with the G League team, and him continuing to get better and better,” LeBron said. “We want to hold him accountable. He’s going to hold us accountable, and if we all do that, we’ll all get better, because we’re all one team. We are a reflection of the South Bay. The South Bay is a reflection of us. ... We’ll continue to grow, stacking days. I know he’s going to do that, because that’s just what he’s about.”
The rest of the Lakers had only positive thoughts about the arrival of their superstar teammate's son. Anthony Davis takes his own measure of pride in Bronny's arrival after watching his growth over the past half-decade from a teenager to an NBA prospect.
“It’s awesome. It’s historic. It’s powerful,” Davis said. “Bronny’s locker is across from mine, so every time I walk in and see it, it’s still surreal for me that he’s on the same team as his dad. I can’t wait until they step on the floor and officially make history, but it’s been super-dope to watch so far.”
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