LeBron and Bronny James Make Public Debut as Lakers Teammates: ‘Just Pure Joy, Man’

They have been father and son to Bronny James their entire lives.

Now they are teammates in the NBA. The Los Angeles Lakers selected Bronny James in the NBA Draft in June to play with his father, LeBron. The pair made their public debut as teammates at the Lakers’ media day on Monday.

For LeBron, the moment marked the culmination of a dream he’s been talking about since Bronny burst onto the prep scene as a prospect. He was beaming on the set of Spectrum SportsNet on Monday when Bronny joined him for an interview, both wearing their Lakers gear.

LeBron wore his traditional number 23. Bronny wore number 9 with “James Jr.” across the back.

“Let’s get out the tissue.”

LeBron has already said he doesn’t want Bronny calling him “Dad” on the court. So what’s the plan for training camp to begin on Tuesday?

“I haven’t gotten there yet,” Bronny said. “It’ll probably be Bron. Bron would be the easiest.”

The father-son duo started off with some friendly trash talk, carried over from a game of pickup last week. LeBron kept up the banter and gave Bronny a hard time while Bronny gave an interview to ESPN.

Both are visibly overjoyed about the moment. For the parent of an athlete, witnessing a child reach the highest level of their sport is a dream come true. Doing this as a teammate is a whole other level.

When will LeBron and Bronny make their on-court debut together?

Now that LeBron and Bronny are officially teammates, the next step is to get down to the business of basketball. They will do so under a rookie head coach in JJ Redick, who will be under immediate pressure to get the Lakers back into championship contention after they lost to the Denver Nuggets in five games in the first round of the playoffs last season.

It will be another challenge for Redick to navigate the LeBron-Bronny dynamic at all levels in his first season as a head coach. Bronny was a backup player last season as a freshman at USC and doesn’t plan on playing significant NBA minutes any time soon.

The moment LeBron and Bronny step onto the court together for the first time will be a milestone in the NBA. Redick declined to commit to a plan for this moment during a news conference last week.

He also said he doesn’t expect navigating the relationship to be particularly challenging for him as a coach.

We’ll see that.

The Lakers make their preseason debut on October 4th against the Minnesota Timberwolves. They open their regular season with a three-game homestand, starting with the same Timberwolves team on October 22nd. Will Bronny make his NBA debut alongside his father before the Lakers hit the road?