The Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night was a homecoming for the James family. LeBron James was born in Akron, Ohio on Dec. 30, 1984. His oldest son LeBron James Jr. — better known as Bronny — was born in Akron on Oct. 6, 2004. As the Lakers embarked on a five-game road trip, the team wanted to give the James duo this time together before starting a plan that will shuttle Bronny to the G League.
The speculation that the Lakers might play LeBron and Bronny together against the Cavs quickly died when Cleveland opened up a 19-point first quarter lead. The game was a wrap from there with the Cavs leading by as many as 28 points at one point. That meant there was an extended run of garbage time where the stars like LeBron rested, and the deep bench like Bronny took the floor.
Bronny played five minutes, took two shots, and had two assists. One of those shots fell for his first NBA bucket. Driving against his father’s older Cleveland teammate Tristan Thompson, the younger James splashed a turnaround jumper for his first ever NBA points. The crowd in Cleveland erupted.
The Cavs fans were loudly chanting Bronny’s name before Lakers head coach JJ Redick finally checked him in for the second stint of his pro career. Everyone in the building wanted that bucket to happen. The way the crowd reacted when the shot fell sounded a lot more like a buzzer-beater than a garbage time bucket.
Bronny talked about the ovation in Cleveland after the game:
“It was insane,” Bronny said of the reception after finishing with 2 points, 2 assists and 1 steal in five minutes. “Much more than I anticipated for sure. But it’s all love. It was insane. It was a nice moment. The chants really got me. I was straight-faced, but I felt it and it felt really good, especially coming from here.
Yeah, it was a special moment for me for sure.
Did Bronny’s jumper look familiar? As some genius on Twitter pointed out, it was the same type of pull-up jumper we have often seen from his father.
During LeBron’s first season with the Lakers, there was a viral video of him doing a quick hesitation jumper. This video is often used as a meme for just about anything else, and remains in circulation to this day. The video is a bit tongue-and-cheek, both lamenting how simple LeBron’s move is and marveling at how no one can stop it. Is there a name for this? It’s not really a snatch-back. The fans called the “LeFU.” After watching Bronny’s first bucket again, I can’t unsee this.
What a moment for LeBron and Bronny. A burden should be lifted off everyone in the Lakers organization now that he’s scored his first NBA points. It wasn’t a father-to-son assist like they hoped, but it was still a night the James family will never forget.
