LeBron James has had plenty of special moments in his career, but one stood out following the Los Angeles Lakers’ Game 1 win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.
The Lakers opened the second quarter with both James and his son Bronny on the floor, making the pair the first father-son duo in NBA history to log minutes together in the playoffs. Bronny subbed out after about four minutes and did not play again.
His final line: 0 points on 0 shots, 1 turnover and 2 fouls.
His father, meanwhile, posted 19 points on 9-of-15 shooting, 13 assists and 8 rebounds. He is the oldest player in NBA history to post double-digit assists in a playoff game.
After the game, he was most excited to talk about Bronny:
“I was on the floor with my son in a playoff game. That’s probably the craziest thing that’s ever happened to me in my career. It’s just so cool to be out there with him, and his brother and sister, and his mom in the building, and his grandma. That’s just insane. My mom got to watch her son and her grandson during the playoffs. That’s crazy.
The door was opened for Bronny playoff minutes after injuries knocked Lakers stars Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves out indefinitely, leaving the Lakers to scramble as the playoffs began.
LeBron and Bronny James playing together during the NBA playoffs is unprecedented.
(Sean M. Haffey via Getty Images)
Last year, Bronny saw only four minutes total of garbage time between two games, logging no stats beyond a pair of missed 3-pointers. His workload this time around wasn’t much larger, even though he saw 17 minutes per game in the Lakers’ five regular-season games without Dončić and Reaves.
It remains to be seen if Bronny gets more playing time in the remaining games of the series, but the Lakers found a formula that worked just fine with him mostly on the bench. The Rockets were also missing their leading scorer in Kevin Durant, leaving them limited on offense while LeBron and Luke Kennard were running the show effectively on the Lakers’ side.
Game 2 is scheduled for Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. ET in Los Angeles.
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