PALM DESERT, Calif. — Bronny James mentioned his well-known father gave him encouragement and recommendation after his NBA pre-season debut with the Los Angeles Lakers.
LeBron James additionally made it clear he’s pleased with his son as they transfer towards one other probability to play collectively on Sunday evening.
Bronny scored two factors and blocked three pictures through the Lakers’ loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday evening at Acrisure Area. LeBron sat out the preseason opener, watching his son from the Lakers’ bench.
“Yeah, there was some stuff we talked about,” Bronny mentioned. “I’d quite not go into element, however simply help and, ‘Maintain working exhausting, hold being assured in your self.’ Stuff like that.”
After Saturday’s apply, LeBron acknowledged his satisfaction in seeing Bronny’s subsequent basketball step in a tumultuous year-plus for his oldest son, who was in highschool solely 16 months in the past.
“It was nice to see Bronny on the market,” LeBron mentioned.
Bronny recovered from a daunting cardiac arrest in July 2023 and performed a part of one season at Southern California earlier than coming into the draft and being picked by the Lakers within the second spherical.
“Each rank that you just climb is at all times an adjustment to get used to it,” LeBron mentioned. “So when he went to center college to highschool to USC and now to the professionals, it’s at all times an adjustment he makes. So with an increasing number of time he’s on the ground with execs, the velocity, the cadence and all these issues, you get higher and higher. And also you’ve received to (keep in mind) that he misplaced just about nearly a 3rd of a season final 12 months due to the situation, however he’s received higher and higher day by day. He’s continued to place the work in.”
Bronny performed 16 minutes and went 1-for-6 from the sector, however he confirmed off his defensive talents in a sequence of performs that prompted Lakers coach JJ Redick to explain him as “disruptive” to opponents. Bronny noticed the whole expertise as an essential milestone in his journey, however simply one other step.
“I’d say it’s a sport for brand spanking new beginnings, me simply attempting to go on the market and get a really feel for the sport, get snug, like how I did in summer season league,” Bronny mentioned. “I really feel prefer it’s the identical factor, principally. Simply go on the market and really feel issues out.”
Bronny might play alongside his father for the primary time Sunday evening when the Lakers host the Phoenix Suns in Los Angeles’ second sport within the Coachella Valley. Sunday can be Bronny’s twentieth birthday.
LeBron and Anthony Davis will each play in opposition to the Suns, Redick confirmed Saturday. Each superstars sat out of Friday’s loss to relaxation after per week of coaching camp following a protracted summer season that included gold medals on the Paris Olympics.
“I believe we need to carry over with what we did at present at apply,” LeBron mentioned. “I believe we have been very intent on what we need to accomplish going ahead. I believe (Friday) was a kind of first video games. It’s been some time since loads of guys have performed in a sport setting, and it appeared that manner.”