The Los Angeles Lakers selected Bronny James with 55th overall pick in the NBA Draft to play alongside his dad, LeBron James. Everybody saw it coming, even through all of the smokescreens.
As the first father-son duo on the same team in league history, it raises a unique question about their on-court relationship.
Is LeBron James Jr. allowed to refer to LeBron James Sr. as “dad” during games? No, he is not!
Bronny struggled during Summer League and will likely play most of his rookie year with the South Bay Lakers of the G-League. However, there is no way that Los Angeles won’t call him up at some point. He is going to debut in the NBA during the 2024 season and both members of the James family will inevitably see minutes in the same rotation. It’s going to happen
Whenever it does, Bronny will need to retrain his brain. LeBron is no longer just his father, he is his teammate. He cannot refer to his dad as dad. Most anything else is acceptable.
The greatest player of this generation spoke about the working relationship with his son on an upcoming episode of ‘The Shop.’ There are some parameters in place. Bronny and LeBron already talked it through.
Is @KingJames cool with Bronny calling him “Dad” on the court? 👀🏀#TheShop Live From Paris premieres this Thursday, 8/29 on our YouTube channel!
— The Shop (@TheShopUN) August 27, 2024
Presented by @Nike. pic.twitter.com/96Yh3TRYmn
As soon as the Jameses arrive to the team facility, they are no longer related. They are teammates. It is a job. It is not family.
Bronny is allowed to refer to LeBron as “2-3” or “Bron” or something like that. He is not allowed to call him “dad” while at work.
As soon as the Jameses leave the team facility and the gates close behind them, they are back to family. Bronny can call LeBron “dad” again. He is allowed to refer to his elder however he so chooses.
This raises a very funny hypothetical. It would be an amazing moment in NBA history if a hot mic was to pick up Bronny accidentally calling his dad “dad” on the court.