LeBron James has a message to anyone speculating about his son’s NBA future: maybe allow him to get his homework done first.
The Los Angeles Lakers forward was asked after Wednesday’s win over the New York Knicks about whether he’d consider signing in the Big Apple if the team drafted Bronny and made it clear a future partnership is the last thing on his mind.
“My son is in ninth grade, man,” James responded to the reporter. “We’re tryin’ to worry about what project he’s gotta turn in tomorrow, that’s what we worried about right now. That’s what’s most important: school, home and being the best big brother he can be.”
Of course, James probably brought that question upon himself. The four-time NBA MVP has said on multiple occasions that he someday wants to share an NBA floor with Bronny, a promising freshman at Sierra Canyon High School in California.
“You want to ask me what is the greatest achievement of my life? If I’m on the same court as my son in the NBA. That would be No. 1 in my lifetime as an NBA player. I’ve thought about it because my son is about to be 14, and he might be able to get in there a little earlier,” James said in a 2018 interview with UNINTERRUPTED.
James would need to continue playing beyond his current contract with the Lakers in order to play with his son. The earliest Bronny could make his NBA debut is the 2023-24 season, at which point LeBron would be 37 going on 38.
With LeBron focusing on bringing a championship to Los Angeles and Bronny likely hard at work on a model volcano for science class, it’s fair for him to scoff at such a hypothetical. But after missing out on James three times in free agency, it’s hard to blame the New York media for dreaming of a #JamesGang union.
