Media day is always a time when the level of excitement and optimism is at its highest for the upcoming season. Everyone is in the best shape of their lives, added some muscle, worked really hard on their game all summer, and is focused and ready for the upcoming season.
For the Los Angeles Lakers, this year’s media day featured all of those talking points — and the excitement of a new head coach — but the biggest story was the first ever NBA media day featuring a father and son on the same team. LeBron James and Bronny James snapped their first official pictures together wearing their Lakers uniforms since Bronny got taken by the team in the second round of June’s NBA Draft, but the two have been on the court together already in pre-camp practices getting ready for the season.
Those scrimmages have already yielded some father-son trash talk, with LeBron posting to IG last week about getting a bucket on Bronny, calling it “good defense, better O.” On media day, the two joined the Spectrum SportsNet desk and Bronny got asked about that bucket, claiming he reviewed the film and LeBron stepped out of bounds so he got a stop, leading to some very funny back and forth between the two (1:40 mark of the below video).
"Pure joy."
LeBron James on Bronny's first media day with the #LakeShow. pic.twitter.com/dSzuFv6xLF
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) September 30, 2024
Bronny: “Alright, in all seriousness, I looked at the film and he did step out of bounds. But I’m not gonna go there. I’m not gonna go there right now.”
LeBron: “What do you mean you’re not going to go there right now? You just went there!”
Bronny: “I mean, I know you did.”
LeBron: “I stepped out of bounds?”
Bronny: “You did. You stepped out of bounds. I got the stop.”
LeBron: “They don’t even have that camera angle of the baseline like that!”
LeBron then asked Bronny to tell them about when he forced his son to dribble out of bounds, leading to another argument about LeBron committing a foul. It’s terrific stuff and it’s clear that LeBron is having a blast having Bronny around, even if the younger James is learning the frustrations of having do defend his dad in practice. Still, he also knows how to press his dad’s buttons and wind him up, telling him he stepped out of bounds and fouled him. The two figure to have some fun battles on the practice court this camp and during the season, and long as Bronny doesn’t call LeBron “dad” on the court, everything will be fine.
