EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Following the first day of Los Angeles Lakers training camp Tuesday, LeBron James said there is nothing left for him to accomplish as a basketball player and after four titles, four MVPs and the most points in NBA history, “everything else is extra credit.”
It turns out, James might have been overlooking a new basketball opportunity outside of the record books that this Lakers season will provide: going toe-to-toe with his son Bronny James in practice.
Bronny, the Lakers’ 19-year-old rookie, got hot on the second day of camp at his father’s expense, according to Anthony Davis — which only caused his 39-year-old dad to dial up his game.
“It’s fantastic to be able to be here and witness it in practice,” Davis said. “Bronny hit a 3 over him today. Everybody was talking smack in Bronny’s favor. Then Bron came down and just bullied somebody. Just took it out on [the defender] — I forgot who it was — and got a layup. Bronny came down and hit another 3, I think over Austin [Reaves]. And Bron wanted the ball.
“So you could see, even though they weren’t matched up, the competition is there. And that’s what we love to see.”
Last week, during an offseason pick-up game at the practice facility, LeBron got the better of Bronny, scoring at the rim after a move along the baseline — only Bronny said that the bucket shouldn’t have counted.
“He spun baseline and went up and under, I jumped on the strong side backboard,” Bronny told ESPN. “But the refs that were reffing that game [missed it when] his foot stepped on the line a little bit. I got that [defensive] stop. I believe I got that stop. But it is what it is. He’s in year whatever he is — he’s going to get that call.”
LeBron didn’t argue with Bronny’s replay review.
“He said he saw the footage and I stepped out of bounds,” LeBron told ESPN. “So, I mean if that’s the case then good defense by him, but it’s always better [offense by me].”
Following each of the first two days of camp, reporters got a glimpse of LeBron, Bronny and third-year guard Max Christie participating in shooting drills together at the end of practice.
It remains to be seen when LeBron and Bronny will be first together on the court in a game.
L.A. opens up its six-game preseason schedule Friday in Palm Springs, California, against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Lakers coach JJ Redick said he has discussed the 22-year veteran’s ramp-up with LeBron’s longtime athletic trainer, Mike Mancias, considering the time he spent on the court during the summer playing in the Paris Olympics, but he declined to divulge it.
“I think we have a pretty clear plan,” Redick said. “We’ll share that plan when it’s appropriate.”
However, Redick did share another way in which Bronny got the better of LeBron in training camp so far: The Lakers’ No. 55 pick ran the farthest of any player on the team during Day 1 of camp, according to player-tracking cameras installed at the UCLA Health and Training Center.
Said Redick: “I went over to Bronny before practice and I was like, ‘Dude, you ran six miles.'”
