As LeBron James begins his 21st season in the NBA on Oct. 22, he’ll be making league history as one-half of the first father-son duo to play together on an NBA team. As previously reported by theGrio, the 2024 Olympic MVP’s 19-year-old son Bronny James will be joining him on the Lakers squad for his rookie season.
“There’s no greater accomplishment that will be able to overtake me being on the same floor as my son,” LeBron told the “Today” show’s Craig Melvin in July, per People magazine. “It’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened.”
However, as the rookie and the GOAT take to the court, LeBron has some ground rules in place for his eldest son. “[Bronny] cannot call me Dad in the workplace,” he said in a trailer for the most recent episode of his Uninterrupted podcast, “The Shop.”
“We cannot be running down the court, and he’d be like, ‘Dad, push the ball up! Dad, I’m open! Dad, come on!'” he added.
So, what should his firstborn call him when they’re in play? LeBron suggested his new teammate call him by his jersey number, “2-3,” or even “Bron.”
“Or, you know, GOAT, if he wants to. It’s up to him,” the Lakers star quipped.
Arguably, this upcoming season could be the “greatest of all time” for the league veteran, who has made no secret of his longstanding desire to play alongside his son in the NBA. Speaking with “Today,” he praised Bronny’s signing with the Lakers as “the greatest accomplishment that I’ve ever had.”
The milestone is even more monumental, given that in July 2023, Bronny went into cardiac arrest during practice for his first and only season with the University of Southern California Trojans. The health scare led to the diagnosis of “an anatomically and functionally significant congenital heart defect,” causing Bronny to miss the first eight games of the season.
With that crisis now behind him, Bronny will now be sharing the court with an NBA legend he knows better than most — but he’ll have to keep it professional at work.
“Once we leave the private facility and the gates close, I could be ‘Dad’ again,” James conceded. “In the car, if we ride together, I could be Dad. At home, I could be Dad.”