Lakers beat Timberwolves in season opener as Bronny James makes history: Live reaction and updates
LOS ANGELES – The James family made history Tuesday night with the patriarch, LeBron James, and his eldest son, Bronny, appearing in the same regular-season game. This was the first time a father-son duo shared the field in its 79-year history.
In the 2024-2025 season opener, where the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 110-103, the big moment came with 4:00 left in the second quarter, when both LeBron and Bronny came off the bench together to score in to check in the match.
The Lakers led 51-35 at the time and LeBron scored six points with three rebounds. The father and son took off their warm-up jerseys after approaching the scorer’s table for a stint that lasted 2:31.
“I wondered during the dead ball why everyone was cheering so loudly, and then I realized what happened,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “We were feeling out the game, and it was going to be towards the end of the first half, and the game gave (Bronny) an opportunity to get some minutes.”
Bronny gave up a quick basket to Julius Randle, had his first shot blocked by reigning Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and then tried to take a shot off a pass from someone else, LeBron, with about 1:40 left before halftime but missed . Bronny guarded All-Star Anthony Edwards and forced a missed shot on the Lakers’ next defensive possession.
During their brief time together, LeBron, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, crushed a baseline dunk for Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr., who know a thing or two about famous father-son duos.
“Are you ready? Just play carefree…go out there and play hard.”
Year 22 with some advice for year 1. https://t.co/SKNTEA4gkQ pic.twitter.com/g5Trgujjzt
— NBA (@NBA) October 23, 2024
When Bronny fouled out with 1:29 left before halftime, Los Angeles broadcaster Lawrence Tanter drew attention to what had just happened, telling the sold-out crowd that it had “just witnessed history.”
“That moment, sitting at the scorer’s table together and checking in together, is something I’ll never forget,” LeBron said. “No matter how old I get, no matter how my memory fades as I get older or whatever, I will never forget that moment.”
The rest of the James family — wife and mother Savannah, son and brother Bryce, daughter and sister Zhuri, who turned 10 on Tuesday — sat on the baseline near the Laker bench. LeBron got emotional as he talked about them as part of the milestone he and Bronny reached.
“Everything was just great today,” LeBron said. “Everything, from the moment I woke up. I saw my daughter before she went to school. I went to work and saw my son working. Go to the game, just everything, man.
As for Bronny, who went scoreless in those three minutes and didn’t return, he said he tried “not to focus on everything that’s going on around me; I’m focusing on going in as a newcomer and trying not to screw it up.
“I was a little worried going into it,” said Bronny, whom the Lakers drafted at No. 55 in June. “That first game on the field is a bit nerve-wracking. But once we got on the field, we went up and down a few times, it all went away and I felt pretty good.
“Family above all” 🤞👑@KingJames and Bronny caught up with him @TaylorRooks after their win against Minnesota! pic.twitter.com/8mnV7Y9kA9
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) October 23, 2024
The game itself belonged to Anthony Davis, who opened with a monstrous 36 points and 16 rebounds in 37 minutes. Edwards paced the Timberwolves with 27 points and five threes. Davis now has 100 games with at least 25 points and 15 rebounds.
LeBron finished with 16 points, five rebounds and four assists. Rui Hachimura added 18 points for the Lakers. The game, and the win, was Redick’s first on the Lakers’ bench, and he was given the customary water bottle shower by his players for winning his first game. The team hired him this summer after one season as an NBA broadcaster for ESPN and a 15-year playing career before that.
Edwards paced the Timberwolves with 27 points and five threes. Randle, the former Laker who was traded to Minnesota by the New York Knicks in the blockbuster deal for Karl-Anthony Towns in September, finished with 16 points and nine rebounds in his Wolves debut.
“This is the first time we had a LeBron moment that was something big and we won,” Davis said, referring to, among other things, the Lakers’ loss the night LeBron passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the nation’s most productive scorer the competition.
The simultaneous LeBron-Bronny check-in marked the first time in NBA history that a father and son appeared together in an actual game, and only the fourth time in modern major American professional sports. LeBron and Bronny, who briefly appeared together in a preseason game on Oct. 6, joined the NHL’s Howes, father Gordie and sons Mark and Marty with the 1979-80 Hartford Whalers, Tim Raines Sr. and Tim Raines Jr. (Baltimore Orioles, 2001) and the Griffeys (Seattle Mariners, 1990).
The Griffeys, who had a pre-game meal with Nike executives at Smashburger on LA Live, sat under the basket on the opposite side of the court from the Lakers’ bench. Ken Sr. and Ken Jr. hugged LeBron and Bronny (remember, Bronny’s birth name is LeBron) and posed for photos before the game.
“At that point, we still had work to do,” LeBron said. “We tried not to make it a circus, we tried not to make it about us. We wanted to make it about the team.”
This is LeBron’s 22nd season, tying him with Vince Carter for the most seasons in NBA history. At age 39, LeBron has won four NBA championships, four league MVPs, started a record 20 All-Star Games and earned his third Olympic gold medal with Team USA in Paris, among other career highlights.
Bronny, 20, was in eighth grade when his father joined the Lakers and the family moved to Los Angeles full-time from Cleveland. He cited LeBron leading the Cavaliers to the NBA title in 2016 and watching him lead Team USA’s comeback against Serbia in an Olympic semifinal last summer as the two most inspiring things he said to his father. field had seen done.
“Both of them made me think, ‘This is a crazy sport, I really want to be a part of this,’” Bronny said.
Bronny overcame heart surgery in the summer of 2023 and played collegiately for the USC Trojans last season. Although he struggled primarily as a role player, the Lakers not only drafted Bronny but also awarded him a four-year contract worth $7.9 million – rare for someone selected low in the draft.
“We had a moment when he got drafted, we all got a chance to be together as a family in New York,” LeBron said. “We had a moment there because we were thinking about the scare happening not too long ago. … And if he can step onto an NBA floor, if that’s tonight or whenever, it will be another one of those moments of knowing the adversity he’s been through.
“I’ve had a few family members who have had heart surgery. Some of them older, some younger. And to know how long it takes to get back to yourself, to see him play in a college Division I game the same year he had heart surgery was a “wow” moment. And I knew in that moment that there was really nothing that would stop him from doing this – anything he wanted to do. And he wanted to keep playing basketball.”
LeBron illustrated his son’s desire to stay on the court by recalling Bronny’s first words after heart surgery, which followed an episode of cardiac arrest he suffered while training with the Trojans two summers ago.
“One of the first things he asked the doctors after his heart surgery was like, ‘When can I play again?’” LeBron said. “Not from asking, ‘How long will it take for my heart to heal?’ Or not: ‘How long have I been operated on?’ None of these. He asked, ‘When can I play again?’”
Bronny’s debut wasn’t as explosive as his father’s first game as a pro. On October 29, 2003, LeBron scored 25 points with six boards and nine assists for the Cleveland Cavaliers in Sacramento, months after they made him the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
When the G League season begins next month, the Lakers are expected to shuttle Bronny back and forth between the NBA and their affiliate in the South Bay. If Bronny doesn’t play in the G League, he isn’t expected to play a major role with the Lakers, at least initially.
“I talked about it years and years ago. And for this moment, this is pretty cool,” said LeBron. “I don’t know if it’s going to affect either of us for a minute.”
During halftime, the Lakers honored the late Jerry West with a tribute video. West, who died on June 12 at the age of 86, is one of the best players to ever play for the Lakers and led the franchise to six championships as general manager.
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(Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)