FAMILY AFFAIR

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of National Basketball Association (NBA) history after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.

The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ pre-season game against the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles.

Anticipation about when the James duo would make their first appearance together has built since the Lakers picked Bronny with the 55th pick in the NBA Draft in June.

New Lakers coach J.J. Redick, who said last month that the two would play together “sooner rather than later,” said in pre-game remarks on Sunday that the prospect of the James’ lining up alongside one another was “surreal.”

“I’m excited about it,” Redick said. 

“I am very honored that I get to be a part of history. It’s going to happen in the flow of the game.” 

In the event, Redick introduced Bronny James to the floor with the Lakers leading 34-25.

LeBron James has said that the prospect of playing with Bronny on the same team had given him a new lease on life as he enters the 22nd season of a glittering career.

“It’s a lot of excitement, a pure joy, to be able to come to work every day, put in hard work with your son every day and be able to see him continue to grow,” James said.

“We push each other. He pushes me. I push him. We push our teammates, and vice versa. So it’s just a very joyous moment not only for myself, but for our family. So it’s pretty awesome. Gives you a lot of life.”

Bronny, meanwhile, said on Monday he was fueled by the words of critics who have suggested he owes his place on the Lakers roster entirely to his superstar father.

“I’m just taking all that stuff, that criticism and backlash that people have given me and turning it into something that can fuel me,” Bronny James said.

Redick has insisted that Bronny James was drafted by the franchise on merit, pushing back at suggestions that the former University of Southern California player had been “given” a roster spot.

“Bronny has earned this through hard work,” Redick said earlier this year.

“He’s going to have a great opportunity to become an excellent NBA player.”  

Bronny James is expected to spend most of his rookie season in the developmental G-League rather than the Lakers senior squad.