‘The words exchanged afterwards were probably more challenging than anything else.’
BRONNY James is expected to team up with his father, NBA superstar LeBron James, when he makes his debut for the Los Angeles Lakers.
MONICA SCHIPPER/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Los Angeles Lakers great LeBron James and son Bronny are poised to become the first father-son duo on a National Basketball Association (NBA) court this season, but the Lakers are still formulating plans for that moment, new coach JJ Redick said Wednesday.
“We don’t have anything planned per se in terms of commitment to do it this way,” Redick said as he and Lakers general manager met with reporters at the team’s training facility.
“We obviously have talked about it as a staff, and we’ve gotten into some specifics of what that might look like, but we haven’t committed to anything.”
“And obviously there’s a discussion to be had once we’re all together with Bronny and LeBron, too. They should be a part of that discussion as well.”
Redick told “The Lowe Post” podcast on Tuesday that he expected the historic moment to come “sooner rather than later.”
But it’s likely that Bronny James, who turns 20 in October, will spend a significant amount of time playing in the developmental G League as four-time Most Valuable Player LeBron James, Anthony Davis and other Lakers stars try to position the club for a title run.
LeBron James, 39, is heading into his 22nd NBA campaign having averaged 25.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game last season.
Over the summer, he led Team USA to Olympic gold in Paris.
Redick said utilizing James’ vast skills while maintaining the superstar’s health throughout the punishing season would be key.
“I think everyone in this building is cognizant of the fact that he’s almost 40,” Redick said. “But when we’ve watched the pickup games, he’s going full tilt. He’s on the court, he’s going.”
That includes against Bronny, Pelinka said, describing a recent team pickup game where Bronny “got switched onto LeBron, and LeBron took him baseline and up and under off the glass.
“The words exchanged afterwards were probably more challenging than anything else.”
The Lakers finished last season with a 47-35 record but were unable to threaten Denver in the opening round of the playoffs.
Coach Darvin Ham was fired shortly after that post-season defeat and Redick, who spent 15 years in the NBA as a player before joining ESPN in 2021 as an analyst, was hired in June.
Redick has a long association with James, but said their new coach-player relationship is still developing.
“I think it’s at the early stages of that relationship, particularly because LeBron was doing USA Basketball for most of the summer,” Redick said, adding that now that the team is back in the gym “the biggest thing is just the communication that we already inherently have that’s just continued to grow.”
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