Just hours after the Boston Celtics raise an 18th banner to the rafters ahead of a season-opening meeting with the New York Knicks, Lakers superstar LeBron James will get his first chance to share the floor with his son, Bronny, when Los Angeles hosts the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night.
Lakers coach JJ Redick insists that “nothing’s been finalized for anything yet” when it comes to his game plan, but it would be stunning if Los Angeles passed up the opportunity to generate the headline of the season on Night 1.
And we can only hope it chooses to.
All eyes have been on Bronny James ever since the Lakers selected him with the 55th overall pick in this year’s draft. He dominated Summer League headlines, managed to stay in the spotlight in the preseason, and is now bound to be the talk of the town on Opening Night.
If Los Angeles opts to keep Bronny James away from his pops on Tuesday, articles titled “Is Tonight the Night?” and “Bronny Eyeing Debut vs. (team of your choice)” are going to flood the internet and social media at least three or four times a week until history is actually made.
Don’t believe that’s the case? Under the impression that mainstream media outlets wouldn’t keep beating a dead horse? Don’t put it past them.
When Bronny James knocked down a 3-pointer during the Lakers’ final preseason game on Friday night, his dad sipped a drink from the bench. ESPN deemed that to be highlight-worthy, posting a clip of the sequence on TikTok, the great unifier of our generation, of course.
“Bronny made a three and LeBron took a sip,” some overlaid text on the video read, followed by a fire emoji.
Slow news night, huh?
We should also mention that the Golden State Warriors ended up winning that game 132-74.
To put things lightly, having to deal with this type of coverage beyond Tuesday is going to make life a living hell—as a basketball fan, at least.
Should LeBron and Bronny become the first father-son duo to play together in league history when Minnesota comes to town, I’m sure there will still be some Bronny James coverage throughout the course of the season, but it won’t be nearly as in-your-face as what we’re going to get if Bronny doesn’t show up until Game 50 of the campaign.
Ask yourself this, too. When the time does come for Bronny James to check into a game and he goes to meet his dad at half court, is that a moment that you’ll truly be able to consider organic?
Bronny James averaged 4.8 points per game on 36.6 percent shooting in one season at Southern California, got drafted, and is now in line to potentially get minutes on Opening Night against a team that is coming off a Western Conference finals appearance.
Never again in the history of the NBA will we see a player with that resume end up in a spot like this. Rather than playing for the name on the front of the jersey, Bronny might want to consider playing for the one on the back, because that’s the only reason he is where he is.
So, let’s get this over with. Make history and call it a day, fellas. We want to watch the other 81 games in peace.
