Bronny James played his first game for the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday afternoon.
Bronny was taken by the Lakers with the No. 55 pick in last month’s NBA Draft, becoming the first player to be drafted while his father is an active player.
His dad may be away with the US Olympics team in Las Vegas but Bronny wasted no time in putting on the iconic yellow and purple jersey for the Lakers’ Summer League game against the Sacramento Kings in San Francisco.
Wearing oversized headphones, Bronny looked so much like his famous father during the warm-up it caused some people at Chase Center to do a double-take.
James missed his initial two shots while playing six minutes in his first run of action – grabbing a defensive rebound one minute, 20 seconds into the game then missing a 21-foot jump shot moments later.
Bronny James played his first game for the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday afternoon
He played in the Lakers’ Summer League game against the Sacramento Kings in San Francisco
He came up short on a 26-foot 3-point try at the 4:23 mark of the opening quarter before getting a breather.
If all goes as planned, the 19-year-old and his dad will become the first father-son pair to play in the NBA at the same time – and on the same team no less.
Bronny is NBA career scoring leader LeBron’s oldest son. He survived a cardiac arrest last July 24 during an informal team workout at USC and it was later determined he had a congenital heart defect.
The younger James signed a four-year contract that will pay him $7.9 million.
‘It’s for sure amplified the amount of pressure,’ Bronny said this past week when formally introduced by the Lakers.
‘I’ve already seen it in (social) media and on the internet and stuff talking about (how) I might not deserve an opportunity.
‘But I’ve been dealing with stuff like this for my whole life. It’s nothing different. It’s more amplified for sure, but I can get through it.’
More to follow.