Milestones are routine for LeBron James these days. He turned 40 on Dec. 30 and the next day became the first player in NBA history to appear in a game in his teens, 20s, 30s and 40s.
Earlier in December, he set an NBA record for career minutes played. He’s already the NBA all-time scoring leader and has four NBA championships and three Olympic gold medals. James also made history by playing in the same game as his oldest son, Bronny, in the Lakers’ season-opening win Oct. 23.
Anything left to accomplish? Well, playing alongside not just one, but two of his sons comes to mind after Bryce James committed to Arizona. Bryce, a 6-foot-5 senior shooting guard at Sierra Canyon High in Chatsworth, is rated a three-star prospect by 247 Sports.
Like Bronny, Bryce’s high school stats are modest. He’s averaged 6.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per game in four games as a reserve after returning from an undisclosed injury. During the summer, he averaged 6.9 points and 2.2 rebounds in 14 games playing for LeBron’s AAU program, Strive for Greatness.
Adam Finkelstein, 247 Sports’ director of scouting, assesses Bryce thusly:
“He may not be the dynamic athlete or playmaker some expect at first, but he is a fundamentally sound player with solid perimeter size and a good early skill-set. He possesses clear shooting potential with naturally soft touch, compact release, and the ability to make both threes and pull-ups.”
Bronny James, 20, played one season at USC before turning pro, overcoming a frightening episode of cardiac arrest during a practice in July 2023. He was taken by the Lakers in the second round of the 2024 NBA draft and has begun to blossom in the G league after playing a handful of minutes in seven Lakers games.
Evaluators doubt that Bryce would be ready for the NBA after only one season at Arizona, meaning that LeBron would need to play beyond his current Lakers contract, which expires after the 2025-26 season, to take the court with both of his sons.
Two years ago, LeBron admitted that he has thought about being a teammate of both sons, telling Sports Illustrated, “If my mind can stay sharp and fresh and motivated, then the sky’s not even the limit for me. I can go beyond that. But we shall see.”
Savannah James, LeBron’s wife and the mother of their children, referred to the possibility in an October 2023 social media post. At the 1:31-mark of a two-minute video promoting Beats by Dre, Savannah is delivering a pep talk to LeBron and says, “Tell them you aren’t done until you play with your son, then do that, again.” The camera fixes on Bronny, then on Bryce.
Could it happen? Could LeBron join hockey great Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and Marty as the only father to play with two sons on a professional team?
LeBron makes no secret of his love of horror movies, and him taking the court too old to compete with two sons who aren’t NBA caliber would elicit shrieks. A lot will depend on Bryce’s development in Tucson. If it takes him, say, three years to become NBA-ready, his father will be pushing 44. Also, Bronny must continue to improve.
Maybe LeBron doing his part is the least of the worries. He certainly doesn’t doubt himself.
“To be honest, if I really wanted to, I could probably play this game at a high level probably for about another — it’s weird that I might say this — but probably about another five to seven years, if I wanted to,” James told reporters last week. “But I’m not going to do that.”
Forcing the father-sons event as a going-away gesture probably wouldn’t be wise. But it doesn’t seem like a notion the James family is willing to let go.
And for now, it’s all just more fuel for LeBron, who it merits mentioning is averaging 23.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.9 assists while playing 35 minutes a game in his 22nd season.