LOS ANGELES — All told, it took three minutes.
A three-minute history of a father and son warming up before cell phone cameras and flashbulbs pop out.
Three minutes of a show that gets in the way of a match, a moment that gets in the way of a win.
A seminal moment or a clown show? It’s all in the eye of the beholder as LeBron James and Bronny James take to the floor at the same time late in the second quarter of the Lakers’ season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“We talked about it years ago, but it’s pretty cool for this moment to come,” LeBron James said. “At this point, when we checked in, we still had work to do. We weren’t trying to make it a circus, we weren’t trying to make it about us. We wanted to make it about the game.
“We kept what was important as important.”
The circus always seems to be following LeBron James, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon. As Anthony Davis pointed out, this happened to be the first time a breakthrough moment occurred in a Lakers win. There has been a lot of celebration in the backdrop of defeat, and before the night began it certainly felt like Tuesday would follow a similar path.
But the Timberwolves looked bored and unmotivated for most of the night, showing only glimpses of the team that made a surprising run to the Western Conference Finals a few months ago.
It helped the Lakers win 110-103, a comforting victory given the criticism they would have received had those three minutes been costly.
Lakers coach JJ Reddick said, “During the dead ball, I was wondering why everyone started cheering so loudly, and then I realized what was going on.” “I was like, ‘That’s cool.’ It was an opportunity for Bronny. He’s been playing well and has been fighting all through the preseason to give himself a chance to get better in regular season games.”
The hype leading up to the game has obscured other common storylines that will take center stage in the coming months. Redick’s slicked-back hair got wet after his first win as head coach, but Davis led the way with 36 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 37 minutes. He dominated Rudy Gobert.
If Davis is truly going to be the focus, a statement we’ve heard many times before, this is a start. Although he gestured to the crowd multiple times, seemingly to point out that Gobert was no match for him, Davis stopped all air traffic near the rim with his presence.
“It’s a holdover from the Olympics,” Davis said, referring to when he won a gold medal with the U.S. men’s basketball team at the Paris Olympics. “So, I had a summer playing basketball, playing hard against great competition, with great players who helped me develop. I went into camp ready to go… and that’s the start of the regular season. It led to the match.”
That made the moment insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but memorable for the older James. A year ago, when young James went into cardiac arrest while playing at USC, not far from Crypto.com Arena, it’s a moment the young James probably never could have imagined.
Not much happened on the floor. Bronny was scored by Julius Randle, who missed a 3-point shot off a pass from his father. For those hoping for a Ken Griffey-like father-son moment in 1990, a Disney-style home run streak, it was a dream come true.
“I try not to focus on everything that’s going on around me,” Bronny James said. “Coming in as a rookie and trying not to mess up. I felt really energized and I’m grateful to the Lakers nation for showing me their support.”
The baseball duo was also in attendance and posed for commemorative photos with the James family before the game started. It was clear that the Lakers wanted this game to be a spectacle, and it was also clear that they wanted it to be over to take the pressure and expectations off everyone involved. The Lakers hold on to tradition, clutching onto it like a warm blanket on a breezy night while the rest of the NBA teams go about their business.
A minute after Bronny James checked out, Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was being carefully escorted to the back in a wheelchair. When the 77-year-old was recognized by a small group of fans near the tunnel, they cheered “Kareem” in appreciation and largely ignored the game for about 15 seconds.
And shortly after longtime Lakers and Penn State announcer Lawrence Tanter highlighted the history-making James crowd, he also announced that a halftime ceremony would be held to remember the life of the late Jerry West. This is another example of the connective tissue that pervades the entire franchise.
Now, it should be pointed out that West didn’t have the greatest ties to the Lakers in his later years, most recently serving as an advisor to the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers until his death in June, but his Dissatisfaction was not always a secret. Anyone within hearing distance of the Lakers or Clippers.
Their second most important figure after Magic Johnson feels left out with the franchise he helped build and shape, and when it comes to James, he knows what he wants. I didn’t want to miss the chance to upset him.
That’s why we can let go of the clutches on Bronny James at this point. It’s not an insult for him to play three minutes. Even at No. 55, it was an insult to pick him when it was clear he wasn’t ready. The bigger one was giving him a four-year guaranteed contract when it was clear he wasn’t ready to contribute as a bona fide NBA player.
Strip away the tedious details about nepotism and accomplishments, and you can see how soothing it was for LeBron James to be there for Bronny.
LeBron was nervous the night before and the day of his first nationally televised game in Sacramento nearly 21 years ago. He certainly didn’t sleep the night before and couldn’t take his customary pre-game nap.
“I was so nervous. I felt the world, the game of basketball, on my shoulders,” James said. “I felt like everyone except my family and friends wanted me to fail. I was so nervous my stomach would turn.”
But these problems cannot be removed, even if during the joint press conference Bronny, who was sitting next to his father, looked very precocious and somewhat fidgety. No matter who Bronny becomes, if he can become something on the court over the next four years given the opportunity, LeBron can relate in some way, even if he goes through some pain. Probably.
But Bronny is being cheered on, and it’s impossible to say that the world is against him, even if some point out that he is likely to fail.
Father and son came as a package deal, but perhaps this spectacle is over. But even if he looked down on it for obvious reasons, James’ influence extended to the 7-footer who dominated the night. Because without LeBron, the Lakers wouldn’t have Anthony Davis.
As always, LeBron James’ game was no slouch, and it was a three-minute gray game.
