LOS ANGELES -- I thought I’d be skeptical. I figured I’d be cynical. I just knew I was ready to move on past the moment everyone was waiting for as the Los Angeles Lakers opened the regular season against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Ever since the Lakers drafted Bronny James in June, the countdown began to the moment LeBron James would share the court with his son, becoming the first father and son duo to ever play together in NBA history.
It always seemed forced to me as someone who watched Bronny play at Sierra Canyon High School where he averaged 12.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game, and one year at USC where he came off the bench for a 15-18 Trojans team and averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.
Could Bronny one day grow to become a decent NBA role player after a four-year college career? Eh, maybe, but the idea that he would be a one-and-done college player and jump straight to the NBA less than one year after suffering a cardiac arrest caused by a congenital heart defect just seemed wrong.
It was a feeling I held through the NBA Summer League, media day, training camp and the preseason. But as I watched LeBron and Bronny check into the Lakers’ season opener on Tuesday, with the Lakers holding a 51-35 lead over the Timberwolves with four minutes left in the second quarter my viewpoint changed.
I saw a father, wearing a LeBron No. 23 jersey, and his son, wearing a Bronny No. 9 jersey, in the 300-level give each other a high-five. I saw a group of younger fans wearing Bronny jerseys humping up and down as they chanted, “We want Bronny!” And I got a text from my dad, who summed up the moment perfectly and succinctly in three words, “That was nice.”
Yes, it was, dad. It was nice. That’s all it was and that’s all it really needed to be. In a season filled with moments, that will be just one for the Lakers and there’s no need to make it anything more than it is.
Bronny ended up playing all of two minutes and 41 seconds in the game. He missed his two shot attempts, grabbed one rebound and didn’t see the court again in the second half. If you’re spending more time than Bronny did on the court diminishing and disparaging his less than three minutes on the court, that’s on you. It played no role in the Lakers opening the season with a 110-103 victory over the Timberwolves and Bronny’s addition to the team will play no role in where the Lakers end up this season.
LeBron and Bronny sharing the court isn't a non-story but Bronny being on the Lakers is simply a non-factor, underserving of the attention, good and bad, that it has received.
Let’s go back to when Bronny was drafted. If you’re like me and think he didn’t deserve to be drafted by an NBA team, that’s fine, but what did it really cost the Lakers to draft him? He was the 55th pick in a 58-player draft. They didn’t exactly reach for him as most mock drafts had him being selected where he was picked. Even if you take him out of the equation, the Lakers were keeping their eyes on Armel Traore and Quincy Olivari in the seconds round, two players they signed as undrafted rookies and made the team on two-way contracts.
Bronny is slated to make about $3 million through the first two seasons of his contract, which is about the discount LeBron took this offseason to ensure the Lakers avoided the second apron of the NBA’s new and more restrictive salary cap.
And while Bronny currently occupies the 15th slot on the Lakers' 15-man roster, most expect him to join the South Bay Lakers, the team’s G League affiliate, when they open their season in the Lakers’ training facility in 17 days.
LeBron and Bronny sharing the court on Tuesday night and making history isn’t a non-story, it’s just not a story that deserves more than two minutes and 41 seconds of anyone’s attention. It was a nice moment that really didn’t cost the Lakers anything if you really look at how Bronny ended up with the team and won’t factor in how the season plays out for the Lakers.
I could understand the uproar if the Lakers reached for Bronny in the first round, gave him a first-round contract and made him part of the regular nine-man rotation and played him late in the game but none of that happened.
Sports is a business and when you looked at the number of Bronny James jerseys and shirts being worn by young fans in and around Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday, drafting Bronny and letting him make history with LeBron in front of a sold-out crowd on national television was the right business decision. Lakers head coach JJ Redick only playing Bronny for two minutes in 41 seconds in the second quarter while the Lakers held a 16-point lead was also the right basketball decision. The Lakers’ business and basketball interests will likely continue to align next month when Bronny goes to the South Bay Lakers where their games will be sold out for the first time as he continues to develop his game with the team’s coaches.
Whether you loved or hated the history LeBron and Bronny James made Tuesday night, chances are it wasn’t as great or bad as you thought it was. It was two minutes and 41 seconds that had as much bearing on the game, as it will on the Lakers’ season.
