Bronny James might be the son of ‘The King’ but that doesn’t make him immune from being pranked.
The eldest son of LeBron James was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft in a move that made the James pair the first active father-son duo in NBA history.
However, any notion of Bronny receiving preferential treatment is already out of the window.
Rookies are often the butt of jokes and Bronny was the latest victim after Lakers superstar Anthony Davis trolled him during Sunday night’s game vs the Portland Trail Blazers.
39-year-old LeBron was ruled out of the contest due to soreness in his left foot, but that didn’t stop from him playing along with AD’s prank.
After making his way to the bench, Davis stopped in front of Bronny, who was sitting next to LeBron on the sideline.
The Lakers power forward/center then made Bronny give up his seat for him, as rookies often do for veterans.
Knowing his place in the Lakers hierarchy, Bronny dutifully obliged and walked down the bench as LeBron, AD and Rui Hachimura laughed amongst themselves.
LeBron played along and fans joked that it was good to see Bronny receive the real rookie experience.
“Well, he is a rookie lol no special treatment,” one fan posted.
“LeBron been waiting to do this, look at his smile,” joked another.
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It was all smiles for the Lakers after the game too as they ran out 107-98 winners.
AD finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds, and five blocks, while Bronny stepped in for the final two minutes and recorded one block.
Much has been made of Bronny’s young career after he was drafted by the Lakers having played one season of college basketball for the USC Trojans.
After making his Lakers debut, James Jr has been going back and forth between the active Lakers roster and the franchise’s G-League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, to give him time to learn and grow in a professional setting.
However, the rookie guard has only been featuring in home games for South Bay, and is called back up to the NBA when the development team goes on the road — a decision that’s been widely criticized.
“They’ve handled it awful,” NBA legend Charles Barkley The Bettor Angle during a recent interview.
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“This thing where he’s only gonna play homes games. It’s stupid, it’s not fair to him. It’s not fair to the team.
“Can you imagine the coach of that team? You come off a road trip and you have a player you haven’t seen in a week or two. And then you probably feel like you gotta play him.”
“They have just handled this thing very bad. It’s a bad look for the Lakers. I really like everything LeBron has done. But it’s a bad look for him, in my opinion,” he concluded.
In his most recent outing for South Bay, Bronny put up 16 points, four rebounds, two assists, and one block in 22 minutes against the San Diego Clippers.
“I think it’s good. Just game by game, just trying to learn everything that I can,” the youngster said afterwards.
“Always just staying aggressive and playing my game. Playing for my teammates and the coaches. It’s been good.”
Unfortunately, his performances in the G-League haven’t translated to the NBA, which is obviously a huge step up in competition.
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The younger James has played 19 minutes across seven games this season for the purple and gold, registering just four points, two assists, one rebound, one assist, one steal, and one block, while shooting 1-8 from the field, 0-4 from the three-point line, and 2-2 from the free-throw line.
He hasn’t had many opportunities since the early part of the season, and it’s clear he’s got a lot of developing to do before he’s ready to start in NBA games.
The G-League will allow him to do that as he continues to hone his skills.
The Lakers, meanwhile, are 13-11 for the season and eighth in the Western Conference.