Lakers play the generation game

LOS ANGELES — LeBron James and his son Bronny became the first father-son duo to play together in a regular season NBA game on Tuesday, as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in their season opener.

The sold-out crowd let out a roar when 20-year-old Bronny checked into the game alongside LeBron, who was reentering the game with four minutes to play in the first half.

Bronny, who like many first-year players is not expected to see significant floor time this season, grabbed a rebound in his three minutes of action, while LeBron contributed 16 points in the Lakers' 110-103 win.

"It's always been family over everything," LeBron said alongside Bronny after the game.

"I lost a lot of time because of this league ... so to be able to have this moment, where I am working still and I can work alongside my son, it's one of the greatest gifts I've ever got from the man above, and I'm going to take full advantage of it."

No father-son duo has ever played during the same NBA season, let alone on the same team. The pair appeared together for the first time during a preseason game earlier this month.

LeBron, 39, had long said one of his remaining goals in basketball was to play with his son, a guard who was selected with the 55th pick of the NBA Draft in June after one season at the University of Southern California.

LeBron, the NBA's all-time leading scorer, a four-time champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist, is now in his 22nd NBA season and has yet to say when he plans to call time on his career.

Bronny, meanwhile, is looking to make a name for himself in the league he has grown up around, with a father who has also played for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat.

"Going up to the scorer's table and checking in for the first time was a crazy moment I will never forget," Bronny said.

"I'm just extremely grateful for everything. I was given an amazing opportunity to come into this league and get better every day and learn every day."

LeBron said he reminds his eldest son how fortunate they are to play in the NBA.

"This is not promised every day that you get to play in this beautiful league," he said.

"There's only 450 of us, and you have to understand it's not given to you, you have to earn every moment. I think he knows that and he looks forward to the process of getting better every single day to be the player he ultimately wants to be.

"I'm super proud of him. He's my lifeline, that's for sure."

In attendance at the game was another sporting father-son duo in Ken Griffey Sr and Ken Griffey Jr, who played together on Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners. The pair memorably hit back-to-back home runs in a game in September 1990.

LeBron and Bronny warmly welcomed the Griffeys at midcourt ahead of the game before posing for photos.

"It's been a treat," LeBron said at Tuesday's morning shootaround. "In preseason, the practices, just every day, bringing him up to speed of what this professional life is all about, and how to prepare every day as a professional."

LeBron and Bronny joined a small club of father-son professional athletes who have played together. The Griffeys made history 34 years ago.

Baseball Hall of Famer Tim Raines and his namesake son also accomplished the feat with the Baltimore Orioles in 2001.

In hockey, Gordie Howe played alongside his two sons, Mark and Marty, with the WHA's Houston Aeros and Team Canada before one NHL season together on the Hartford Whalers in 1979-80, when Gordie was 51.

While these other family pairings happened late in the fathers' careers, LeBron shows no signs of slowing down or regressing as he begins his NBA record-tying 22nd season.

LeBron averaged more than 25 points per game last year for his 20th consecutive season, and he remains the most important player on the Lakers' roster alongside Anthony Davis, as they attempt to recapture the form that won a championship in 2020 and got them to the Western Conference finals in 2023.

Bronny survived cardiac arrest and open heart surgery in the summer of 2023, and he went on to play a truncated freshman season at the University of Southern California. He declared for the draft anyway, and the Lakers eagerly used the fourth-to-last pick in the draft on the 6-foot-2 guard.

Agencies