NEW YORK — It was the dream that LeBron James first floated a few years ago, the notion of playing in the NBA alongside one of his sons.
And it’s a step closer to reality now.
Bronny James — the oldest son of the NBA’s all-time scoring leader and four-time champion — was drafted Thursday by the Los Angeles Lakers, the team that his father has played for since 2018. Bronny James was taken with the No. 55 pick, deep in the second round and with only three picks remaining in the draft.
Adding further intrigue to the move: LeBron James can become a free agent next week, which means he could choose to leave the Lakers and sign elsewhere.
The draft move doesn’t guarantee father and son will play in a game together, nor does it even guarantee Bronny James will be on the Lakers roster next season. But it certainly raises the possibility that it could happen in what would be an NBA first — a father-son on-court duo in the league simultaneously as players. There have been about 100 instances in NBA history of players joining the league after their fathers played, but those always came at least five years after the father’s career ended.
But LeBron James’ incredible longevity — he’ll match Vince Carter for the longest career as an NBA player this coming season, which will be his 22nd in the league — makes the father-son duo possible.
“With the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA draft, the Los Angeles Lakers select Bronny James from the University of Southern California,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said in announcing the pick, making the moment official for the 19-year-old who was born just before the start of his father’s second NBA season.
Bronny James is a guard, one who was listed at 6-foot-4 on USC’s roster but measured at 6 feet, 1½ inches at the draft combine. That would make him one of the shortest players in the NBA, but his athleticism and defensive ability helped give him this opportunity.
He played one year of college basketball at USC and averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists last season. He played in 25 games, missing the start of the season after needing a procedure to fix what was diagnosed as a congenital heart defect, which was found after he went into cardiac arrest during a summer workout.
A panel of doctors cleared Bronny James for NBA play last month.
Day 2 of the draft saw 24 other players get taken before Bronny James, though none of them — not even close, really — got the attention that the No. 55 selection received, for obvious reasons.
The 55th pick rarely turns out to be a player who captures a slew of attention. The best 55th pick in NBA history would be current Miami Heat guard Patty Mills, selected in 2009 and someone who has scored 7,893 points in his 15-season career.
Some other notable No. 55 picks include Marc Iavaroni, Mark Blount, Kenny Gattison and E’Twaun Moore. There never has been a No. 55 pick who was an NBA All-Star, an All-NBA player, an All-Rookie player or an All-Defensive team pick.
Last season’s No. 55 pick, Isaiah Wong, scored two points for the Indiana Pacers as a rookie. Add up every No. 55 pick ever and their NBA career scoring total is 28,364 points — more than 12,000 points fewer than LeBron James has in his career.
