Ken Griffey Jr. knows what it’s like for a son to play with his father in a major professional league and recently shared what he told Bronny James about that subject. Griffey was on an episode of the Nightcap show released on Tuesday and at one point, co-host Shannon Sharpe asked him if he had any advice for Bronny.
“You’re gonna learn a lot by being able to sit there and be on the bench watching him,” Griffey said. “People go, ‘Oh he needs to go to the G League.’ He needs this, he needs that. I tell you what, I learned more sitting there watching my dad than anything.”
“I did tell Bronny, ‘Hey, just relax, enjoy it. Be you; You not gonna be him (LeBron James). Nobody’s him.’ Same thing I felt like my dad told me when I got there,” Griffey stated. “He said, ‘This is your team, I’m just here.’ And he was Dad at the ballpark, excuse me, Dad at the house, and (teammate) at the ballpark. But like I said, there are times where I rode home with Mom. It was much safer.”
That’s some sound advice. There is no point in Bronny putting that kind of pressure on himself. He is never going to be as good as his father LeBron James and there’s no shame in that. There’s hardly anyone in NBA history who can claim to have been as good as LeBron. Bronny, the 55th pick of the 2024 NBA Draft, just needs to carve his own path and not worry about living up to his father’s legacy.
I find it quite interesting, though, that Griffey believes not going to the G League and being around LeBron on the Los Angeles Lakers would be better for Bronny. I don’t think that’s the way to go but he is speaking from personal experience.
Griffey Jr. and his father Ken Griffey Sr. made history by becoming the first father-son duo to be on the same team in Major League Baseball, teaming up with the Seattle Mariners. Griffey Jr. had been drafted by the Mariners with the first pick of the 1987 MLB Draft while Griffey Sr. had joined the team after being released by the Cincinnati Reds midway through the 1990 season.
Father and son would play their first game together on Aug. 31, 1990, against the Kansas City Royals and it was a historic moment. They’d be teammates in the 1991 season as well, after which Griffey Sr. retired.
Considering they were the first father-son duo to play in the MLB, the Griffeys decided they wanted to witness LeBron and Bronny becoming the first father-son duo to play in the NBA. They both made their way to Crypto.com Arena on Oct. 22, to see history being made in the game between the Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves. The two sets of father-son duos also greeted each other pre-game.
The Griffeys are here for LeBron & Bronny in LA! pic.twitter.com/vrTqY0Z8D5
— NBA (@NBA) October 23, 2024
This was truly a wonderful moment. I suppose this might well be when Griffey shared that bit of advice with Bronny as well.
While Griffey disagrees with the notion that Bronny should be sent to the G League, he will be headed there soon enough. The Lakers take on the Memphis Grizzlies next on Wednesday at FedExForum, with the game tipping off at 8 PM ET, and that might well be the 20-year-old’s last chance to play in the NBA for a little while.
Bronny will shuttle between the Lakers’ active roster and their G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, after that game in Memphis against the Grizzlies. I believe that’s best for his development and it would appear everyone involved in the situation thinks so as well.
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