LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Houston Rockets 107-98 in Game 1 of their first-round series at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday. While James was overjoyed with the win in itself, he also spoke in his postgame press conference about how special it was for him to share the court with his son, Bronny James.
“S***, I was on the floor with my son, like in a playoff game,” LeBron said, via ESPN. “That’s probably the craziest thing that’s ever happened to me in my career. It was just so cool to be out there with him. And his brother and sister and his mom in the building, and his grandma, like that’s just insane. My mom get to watch her son and her grandson during the playoffs. That’s crazy.”
LeBron had previously said that playing with Bronny is the best thing that’s happened to him in his career. It had always been his dream to play with his son, and to be together on the court in the playoffs would have felt ever so special.
This was actually the third playoff game both LeBron and Bronny featured in for the Lakers, but this was the first time they played together. The 21-year-old had played in garbage time in Games 1 and 3 against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the 2025 playoffs, and his father was off the court by then.
You’d expected Bronny to get his first real taste of playoff basketball against the Rockets, as Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are out with injuries. Their absence had contributed to head coach JJ Redick inserting the youngster into the rotation toward the end of the regular season.
Redick said he had trust in Bronny and subbed him into this game at the start of the second quarter. He got to play with his father for close to four minutes, and you’d imagine that would have felt incredible.
Bronny, the 55th pick of the 2024 NBA Draft, didn’t do much of note on the night, though, as his only contribution ended up being a turnover when he was trying to pass to LeBron. As for his father, well, he shone.
LeBron had 19 points (9-15 FG), eight rebounds, 13 assists, two steals, and one block against the Rockets to help the Lakers get a 1-0 lead. The 22-time All-Star had eight assists in the first quarter alone as he ran the show in some style.
Bronny had urged his Lakers teammates to trust LeBron in the playoffs, and he came through yet again. Another individual who delivered in a big way was Luke Kennard. Kennard had a game-high 27 points (9-13 FG), to go with four rebounds and three assists.
LeBron sang Kennard’s praises after the game and spoke about how the Lakers were able to pull off this win. They had been completely written off before the series because of Doncic and Reaves’ absence, but showed there is plenty of fight left in them. Now, Kevin Durant being out due to a right knee contusion certainly helped, but this was still a great showing.
The Lakers will be looking to replicate it in Game 2 at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. ET.
