LeBron James absolutely wants to play with his eldest son Bronny in the pros. During an interview with ESPN, he acknowledged that they might not be able to do so on the same team.
Despite his Lakers’ struggles, James, 38, is still playing at a very high level, making it hard to question whether he can still keep it up in two years when he’s 40. That is the first year that Bronny will be NBA eligible, and LeBron has maintained that he wants to play in the league with him. That is still the plan, he told Dave McMenamin.
“I need to be on the floor with my boy, I got to be on the floor with Bronny,” James said, before adding a quick addendum to the plan.
“Either in the same uniform or a matchup against him,” he said. “. . . But I would love to do the whole Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. thing. That would be ideal for sure.”
Since Bronny broke onto the scene as a top hoops prospect, LeBron has stood by the idea of playing on the same team as his son. Of course, Bronny will be subject to the whims of the NBA draft and the lottery, and James could be constrained by whatever his contract details are at the time. He currently has two more years with Los Angeles after the 2022–23 season, running through 2024–25 before he would become an unrestricted free agent that offseason. 2024–25 is the first year in which Bronny is NBA draft eligible, though it is unclear whether he’s a one-and-done type talent at the college level.
The story of Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr.
According to Baseballhall.org, when Ken Griffey Sr. negotiated the Mariners contract of his 17-year-old son in their Cincinnati home on June 2, 1987, he didn’t expect to be playing alongside him just over three years later.
“We do everything alike, except I hit more home runs,” boasted the younger Griffey to the Associated Press. “I guess it’s because of the aluminum bats.”
In a home game against the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 31, 1990, this was put to the test, as Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. both jogged to the outfield, proudly donning the Mariners blue and yellow. They made history that Friday night, as the first father and son duo to appear in the same lineup.
But this wasn’t the first time the Griffeys had made history. They were the first father and son pair to play simultaneously in the major leagues. But becoming real teammates, beyond the occasional catch in the backyard, meant something more.
“Being a father, I guess it’s a dream come true,” Griffey Sr. said to the Washington Post. “This is the pinnacle – this is the thing in my career that I’m very proud of – very proud of. You can talk about the ’76 batting race I was in and all that. But to me this is number one.”
And the two did not disappoint in their debut.
Both Griffeys went 1-for-4, with Ken Griffey Sr. hitting a single in the first inning, thereby winning a bet he had made with his son that he would get the first hit out of the two of them. The 18-year major league veteran also showed off his defensive prowess, as he threw out Bo Jackson when he was trying to round second base. As Griffey Sr., received a standing ovation from the play, the future Hall-of-Famer beamed at his father.
As sentimental and historic as the occasion was, the Mariners organization was quick to dispel the notion that it was all for publicity.
“I want to make it perfectly clear: he’s not here just so we can say we have the first father and son,” insisted Mariners manager Jim Lefebvre. “If I were to look out there in the baseball world and say, ‘I want somebody who is a winner; a player who could come and be a strong influence on our young players – it would be Ken Griffey Sr.”
Ken Griffey Sr. was certainly familiar with winning. He made three National League All-Star teams, in 1976, 1977 and 1980, and won two World Series with the historic “Big Red Machine” in 1975 and 1976. But beyond that, he was a role model.
