Bronny James makes his NBA preseason debut while LeBron watches from the bench

CNN
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LeBron James watched from the bench as his son Bronny James played his first NBA preseason minutes for the LA Lakers on Friday

The 19-year-old played 16 minutes in the Lakers' 124-107 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves and showed his potential by scoring two points at the end.

He was introduced to the game in the second quarter, where he played the first half before playing most of the fourth half.

After missing his first five shots, Bronny finally made a layup with less than a minute to play, a shot that was greeted with loud cheers from the crowd at Acrisure Arena.

Although his shots weren't as sharp as he would have liked, the 6-foot-2 guard blocked three shots and picked up a rebound and an assist.

“He can do some things defensively at his size that are really unique, and I think he can develop into a really disruptive defender,” Lakers coach JJ Redick told reporters when asked about Bronny's performance.

“That has been shown. On offense, he's still figuring out who he is. That's our job as a player development program, just to build him up.

“But honestly, he’s so easy to train. He has a great soul. And he just has great energy. I like being around him. I keep my fingers crossed for him. He is a good player that we are happy to have in our program.”

Redick opted to rest LeBron against the Timberwolves, but the 39-year-old could play against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday – which also happens to be Bronny's 20th birthday.

Bronny, whose jersey has “James Jr.” emblazoned on the other side, was selected 55th overall by the Lakers in the 2024 NBA Draft in June and joined his father in the franchise.

The couple is expected to become the first father-son pair to play on an NBA team together.

During a joint Lakers media event earlier this week, Lebron described the moment as “pure joy.”

“When it comes to him (Bronny), I'm just at a loss for words. (I’m) just super proud of him for being able to get to this point,” LeBron said as his son sat next to him. “He’s a man and he’s ready to go.

“It's just a great joy to watch him grow and know what he's been through in the last few years. And just using that as motivation every day and getting back to where he wanted to be.”