Bronny, the oldest of LeBron James’ three children, is now set to make his NBA debut in the fall.
Bronny James is joining his father LeBron in the NBA! Bronny, 19, was selected by his dad’s team, the Los Angeles Lakers, with the 55th overall pick during the second round of the NBA draft on Thursday, June 27.
The James father-son duo will become the first to play in the NBA at the same time, according to the NBA.
“Congratulations to Bronny James on being drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers,” former Lakers player Magic Johnson wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). “This is a historic moment because LeBron and Bronny are the first father-son duo to play in the NBA at the same time and on the same team. Watching Bronny suit up for the @Lakers during Summer League in Vegas will be must-see TV!”
Bronny, the oldest of LeBron’s three children, is now set to enter the NBA after playing one shortened season at the University of Southern California.
Last February, Bronny was a projected top-10 NBA Draft pick according to ESPN. However, health issues and a lackluster freshman season at USC led to Bronny’s draft status dropping.
An anonymous NBA general manager told The Ringer in April that Bronny is “nowhere near ready” to play in the league, which his father has dominated over the last 20-plus years, becoming the all-time leading scorer and winning four NBA Championships and four NBA MVP Awards.
“Bronny is nowhere near ready,” the general manager said. “He should go back to school to develop at his own pace or he risks getting lost in the shuffle, whether or not he’s playing with his dad.”
LeBron’s son missed the first eight games of the NCAA season after suffering cardiac arrest during a practice last July. Bronny was diagnosed with “an anatomically and functionally significant congenital heart defect” by doctors and returned to USC’s lineup to make his college basketball debut in December with his father on hand to watch.
“It was everything for my family,” LeBron told reporters about watching his son’s debut. “It was just an emotional, draining day, from the time we all woke up to the time that the buzzer hit zeros.”
But Bronny struggled throughout the rest of the year, starting in six of the team’s final 25 games and notching 4.8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.
Despite his struggles, LeBron continued to hype up his son’s draft stock throughout the NBA season.
In January, amid a dismal stretch in which the Lakers lost eight out of 10 games and slid out of playoff contention, LeBron was overheard in the Los Angeles locker room claiming that Bronny “could play for us right now, easy,” according to Claire de Lune, an NBA contributor for The Guardian.
Playing on the same team as his son Bronny in the NBA has been one of LeBron’s last remaining goals for his historic basketball career. “I need to be on the floor with my boy, I got to be on the floor with Bronny,” LeBron said after the 2023 season. “Either in the same uniform or a matchup against him.”
Bronny reportedly impressed scouts at pre-draft workouts, according to ESPN, where he told reporters that his aim is to make it to the NBA and carve out his own legacy, outside of his father’s shadow. “My dream has always just been to put my name out, make a name for myself, and of course get to the NBA, which is everyone’s angle in here,” James said, according to the outlet. “I never thought about just playing with my dad, but of course, he’s brought it up a couple times.”
LeBron still has to opt into the final year of his Lakers contract, worth $51.4 million for the 2024-2025 season, by June 29, per ESPN.
