By Rory Carroll
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – LeBron James and his son Bronny became the first father-son duo to play together in a regular season NBA game on Tuesday as the Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves in their season opener.
The sold-out crowd let out a roar when 20-year-old Bronny checked into the game with four minutes to play in the first half to join LeBron with the Lakers leading 51-35.
No father-son duo has ever played during the same NBA season, let alone on the same team. The pair appeared together during a preseason game earlier this month.
Lebron, 39, had long said one of his remaining goals in basketball was to play with his son, a guard who was selected with the 55th pick of the NBA Draft in June after one season at the University of Southern California.
Lebron, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, a four-time champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist, has entered his 22nd NBA season and has yet to say when he plans to call time on his career.
Bronny, meanwhile, is looking to make a name for himself in the league he has grown up around with a father who has also played for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat.
In attendance at the game was another sporting father-son duo in Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr., who played together on Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners. The pair memorably hit back-to-back home runs in a game in September 1990.
LeBron and Bronny warmly welcomed the Griffeys at midcourt ahead of the game before posing for photos.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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