LeBron and Bronny prepare for their historic family pairing as the Lakers shrug off the critics

LOS ANGELES – EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — LeBron James ends every practice these days by shooting hoops with his son.

When the Los Angeles Lakers cool down after practice with small group shooting sessions at their training complex, the leading scorer in NBA history and 20-year-old Bronny James take turns shooting alongside third-year guard Max Christie. Line up dozens of jumpers.

Spending all this time with family at work is still surreal for LeBron, even if it’s pretty much what he wanted.

“It means everything to a father,” LeBron said.

Less than three years after James expressed his desire to cap his successful career by playing alongside Bronny, they have already teamed up in pre-season. They will soon become the first father and son to play in a real NBA game at the same time, let alone on the same team.

“It’s a special feeling, a different feeling, working with him,” said LeBron, who turns 40 in December. “When you go to work every day, you want to try to help each other. If it’s a bad day for him, you pick him up. …There are things we can do that don’t even need words. We can just do it.” Look at each other and know.

The sports world has been watching both this fall as the Lakers embark on a remarkable experiment — albeit one that could pose unique challenges for James family teammates and Lakers rookie head coach JJ Redick.

Early in his NBA career, Bronny acknowledged and decried the stigma of favoritism and nepotism on social media. The Lakers have also been criticized for using a draft pick to guarantee this father-son pairing, with critics questioning the inclusion of Bronny and his still-raw skills in a contender’s plans from a competitive perspective.

“It’s not necessarily going to be an easy situation to navigate,” said Stan Van Gundy, the longtime NBA coach and current commentator. “There will be a lot of outside noise about Bronny. If he doesn’t play, people will want him to play with LeBron. If he plays, people will say he doesn’t deserve to play…” . But I think the focus should be that this is something that needs to be celebrated. This is a phenomenal thing that we won’t see often.

In fact, only a handful of great athletes have ever played on the same professional sports team as their sons – and Ken Griffey Sr., Tim Raines and Gordie Howe were not yet at the peak of their impressive abilities when they teamed up with their offspring.

LeBron is still one of the best players in the NBA, and the Lakers are gunning for title contention with a roster built around him and Anthony Davis.

In other words, this is no time for a stunt.

But Bronny’s first few months on the roster have generated overwhelming positivity around the Lakers, both from the front office that orchestrated it and the players operating alongside the James duo. No matter how much or how little the James family plays together this season, the Lakers clearly have no regrets about making this piece of basketball history.

Davis has known Bronny well since Davis joined the Lakers in 2019 and has witnessed his maturation from a shy teenager into a young man.

“It’s great,” Davis said. “It’s historic. It’s powerful. Bronny’s locker is across the street from mine, and every time I walk in and see it, it still feels surreal to me that he’s on the same team as his dad. I can’t wait until they step on the floor and officially make history, but so far it’s been great to see.”

While LeBron has been an international star for more than two decades, Bronny is calmer and more thoughtful than his famous father. Friends and family have sometimes joked that his passion for video games is on par with his passion for basketball, which only became the main focus of his life a few years ago.

LeBron sparked these circumstances with his statement that he would end his playing career with his son, although he later changed his statement and said he only hoped to play in the league at the same time as Bronny. That was the last thing on his mind one summer ago, when Bronny survived a cardiac arrest during a practice at USC.

Although Bronny said it wasn’t necessarily his dream to play alongside his father, he still made it a reality by entering the draft after just one shortened college season.

The Lakers front office is obviously and unabashedly on board with the plan. When Rob Pelinka selected Bronny with the 55th overall pick, the general manager said he did so with history in mind: “The greatest moments in sports happen with the Lakers.”

Still, most basketball experts seem to agree that Bronny is currently an underdog in the NBA who would almost certainly have benefited from another year or two of college. An identical 6-foot-2 player with a different last name likely would have gone undrafted, even with one of the final picks in the second round.

The appearance of favoritism or nepotism toward Bronny obviously has the potential to anger players who had to work harder and longer for their opportunity – yet there’s no evidence that anyone in a Lakers jersey feels that way right now.

If anything, the Lakers are uniformly protecting Bronny from the criticism he receives from the babbling media class and from skeptical fans across the league.

“There’s pressure on all of us, (but) the inherent pressure on him is a little different than most second-round picks, most 20-year-olds,” Redick said. “But I don’t feel any nervousness. We talked to him, as we do with many young players, about the fact that you have to be more consistent every day and use your energy more consistently. Not to say it was bad.” … I talk to him about the standard he has as a player and he will eventually build that standard and that will be evident in every game.

Bronny’s new teammates have consistently praised his work ethic and commitment to improvement – and they say that’s no surprise, as Bronny has spent his life watching his father’s relentless drive to extend his unrivaled career, now in its record-breaking 22nd season. season.

Since playing in the summer league, Bronny has gained respect for his defensive abilities.

“He’s tough,” Davis said. “Obviously he’s defensive-minded. Some great blocks. The physicality he manages on screens. He’s good with his hands when it comes to deflections and steals. But he is still learning. He’s still trying to figure everything out. We have to recognize that.” . He’s still a newbie. It’s a different style of basketball, but I like what I see.

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AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in New York contributed.