As LeBron James prepares to become the first NBA player in history to surpass 40,000 career points, a much larger discussion is currently taking place around the parts of his life he’s long championed as his most meaningful: family and fatherhood.
After a recent mock NBA draft by ESPN NBA draft analyst Jonathan Givony removed James’ son, Bronny, a freshman at USC, from its 2024 projections, bumping him to the 2025 draft board, the Los Angeles Lakers forward took issue with the move. Before deleting his posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, the elder James blasted the idea of mock drafts, writing, “Can y’all please just let the kid be a kid and enjoy college basketball? … If y’all don’t know, he doesn’t care what a mock draft says, he just WORKS! Earned not given!”
James ended with one last demand: “Let’s talk REAL BASKETBALL PEOPLE!”
Related Story
Shaquille O’Neal has regrets money can’t eraseRead now
USC currently stands at 11-16 on the season, with Bronny James averaging 5.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists. To say this year hasn’t lived up to the preseason hoopla would be an understatement. But stats aside, Bronny James suffered a cardiac arrest last summer, so even playing college basketball is a significant accomplishment for him.
More recently, the scrutiny has intensified with Bronny James being so close to the NBA. And it’s his father, the four-time MVP and champion, who finds himself directly in the center of the conversation. While James may have been attempting to protect his son, many have pointed the finger squarely at the Lakers star for placing unfathomable pressure on his firstborn over the last several years.
“You’re gonna tweet about folks needing to leave your son alone? You did that,” Stephen A. Smith, co-host of First Take, said this week. Smith, to his credit, also praised James and his family, going as far as to compare them to the family of former president Barack Obama. But, he continued, “LeBron is entirely and completely culpable for any kind of critique coming in Bronny’s direction.”
Related Story
How LeBron James is smashing stereotypes around Black fatherhoodRead now
James is one of the most criticized athletes of his generation and one of sports’ most dissected figures. However intentional and unintentional, the opinion-infused sports ecosystem trickles down to his kids, especially his sons, Bronny and Bryce. So much of James’ life was defined by not knowing his father, and his obsession with breaking a generational curse created an ever-present father and husband.
This all begs the question how much James is responsible for the hysteria even though he knows he can never fully control it. How liable are parents for creating such inevitable pressure, and with all the discourse about pressure, is that what Bronny James is under? Or is it simply another wrinkle to poke holes in his father’s legacy?
On the the surface, the answer is more complex than we’re conditioned to believe.
Last year, he pondered his basketball mortality and how his remaining time in the league could involve his oldest son. James noted that while playing with his son was his dream, it was ultimately his son’s decision. He would support whatever direction he wanted to take his life. This wasn’t just James’ mindset. It was his family’s as well.
Related Story
Bronny James’ sudden cardiac arrest illuminates dangers for Black basketball playersRead now
“Listen, I want nothing for them except for their happiness. That’s it. In whatever they decide to do, I’m here supporting and rooting for them,” Savannah James, James’ wife, said of their sons’ future in pro basketball on The Cut. She expressed a similar sentiment on Uninterrupted’s Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers. “I’m their biggest fan always. If they decide to go the NBA route or a different route, whatever that is, I’m here.”
The moment of clarity was a public shift in consciousness. James’ innate desire to play alongside his son has been a narrative throughout the last half-decade of his career. He’s talked about it on social media. He’s told it to Sports Illustrated, the magazine that helped propel him into the spotlight as a teen. He’s even teased the thought of playing in commercials with his sons. In short, James has never been shy about sharing his desire to take the court with them in front of as many eyes as possible.
Whether basketball, social justice, or anything in between, James’ words move mountains. It’s been that way since he entered the league, and it figures to stay that way long after he retires. How it relates to Bronny James and his potential NBA future is no different. So, yes, James has heaped unprecedented pressure on Bronny. Tweeting this season that he was better than some NBA players and reportedly telling his Lakers teammate Austin Reaves his son could play on the Lakers “right now” did little to quiet critics who view James as a barrier to his success.
Related Story
From Bronny James to D.J. Wagner, Hoop Summit a collection of NBA sonsRead now
Yet, no one understands the weight of unfair expectations more than James.
“I still regret giving my 14-year-old my name,” James said on a 2018 episode of The Shop. “When I was younger, obviously, I didn’t have a dad. My whole thing was, whenever I have a kid, not only is he gonna be a junior, but I’m gonna do everything this man didn’t do … Only thing I can do is give them the blueprint, and [they can]take their own course with it.”
Bronny James has been part of his father’s journey through basketball since James’ earliest days as a Cleveland Cavalier. He’s been courtside with his father at MVP ceremonies, NBA Finals coronations, and losses. Meanwhile, James has been there for his son’s basketball voyage. He’s been a coach, a mentor — and a guest in layup lines, throwing down dunks basketball pundits believe could’ve long saved the NBA All-Star dunk contest.
The two have been joined at the hip for nearly all of James’ career. There’s no doubt that his open championing of his son and his eagerness to play with him only expedited that fervor. But there’s also this: The moment Bronny James picked up a basketball, the pressure became a generational heirloom impossible to ditch.
Related Story
LeBron James’ ‘regret’ about his son’s name is more than a sound biteRead now
“The media would’ve created a story anyway, regardless if LeBron ever said [anything],” said Justin S. Hopkins, a clinical psychologist in Washington. “That narrative was bound to come out at some point as we watched Father Time creep up on [LeBron] and Bronny go through the NCAA. The pressure was always going to be there. The way that Bronny [and Bryce James]have always carried themselves and to actually step on the court is wild considering they’re the sons of arguably the best player ever. They’re always gonna have that insurmountable shadow and shoes they can’t fill.”
Fatherhood, especially fatherhood in high-level sports, is a fingerprint. Each case is different. How these famous Black fathers have interacted with their children has always made for compelling points of examination and debate. In his Hall of Fame speech in 2009, NBA legend Michael Jordan told his children he felt sorry for them because they would never escape his shadow. Former NBA player Carmelo Anthony, one of James’ closest friends, recently said he vehemently opposes having his son Kiyan consider the one-and-done approach to college basketball, instead focusing on patience and emotional development. Nike executive George Raveling once called LaVar Ball “the worst thing to happen to basketball in the last 100 years” for the frenzy he created around his sons Lonzo, LiAngelo, and LaMelo (and himself). Earl Woods told anyone within earshot that his son Tiger would change golf. And Richard Williams proclaimed that his daughters Venus and Serena would be the greatest tennis players in the world before anyone could tell them apart.
There is no one set blueprint on what works and what doesn’t. To criticize James is fair. He is human, after all, and no one is above reproach. To vilify him to the point of insinuating he’s purposely sabotaging his own son’s life or even acting against his wishes — without knowing the validity of that claim for sure — is unfair. James understands critiques of his game are as common as the air he breathes. Yet the criticism of his son represents a new frontier, nearly a quarter century into his career.
Related Story
Bronny James is a product of nature and nurtureRead now
“I definitely think he wants [Bronny] to have his own life and be his own person. He’s been more reflective of that, but what is a supportive dad that is as successful as LeBron supposed to do?” Hopkins said. “Kids are always gonna look at their parents as a marker as to how they should do things — especially as one as successful as LeBron.”
Bronny James’ opinion is lost in the discussion. So far, the pro gamer has said very few words publicly. He’s yet to do a one-on-one interview where he peels back the layers of his life. For all we know, basketball may be the family business he naturally fell in line with or a dream he obsesses over. Until he speaks, everything about his future aspirations is just mere speculation. The general discourse around him has been about the next person’s feelings about how James raises and empowers his kids. But how much pressure are James’ kids really under?
For Bronny James, the world is his oyster. Beyond the never-ending volcanoes of hot takes from every corner of the internet, the only expectations that matter are those he sets for himself. Thanks to his success and wealth, James has seemingly removed far more pressure from his son’s life than he’s put on him. That’s what has truly been misplaced in all of this.
Justin Tinsley is a senior culture writer for Andscape. He firmly believes “Cash Money Records takin’ ova for da ’99 and da 2000” is the single most impactful statement of his generation.
