LeBron James says Bronny’s first basket was an ‘unbelievable moment’ for his family

LeBron James returning to Cleveland is always special, but watching Bronny get his first-ever basket as a Laker against the Cavs made it a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

Wednesday night’s matchup between the Lakers and Cavs had fans excited about the prospect of LeBron James and Bronny James suiting up together in the Lakers’ only trip to Cleveland.

LeBron even mentioned that sharing the court with his son in Cleveland would be special, but with the Lakers suffering a blowout loss, the King’s night ended early and Bronny had yet to play.

With less than nine minutes left in the game, a rare occurrence happened inside the Cavs arena with fans demanding Bronny, an opposing player, be subbed into the game.

Midway through the fourth, fans got their wish and Bronny was subbed into the game while his father watched from the bench.

At the 2:03 mark, he hit on a 14-foot jumper to score his first NBA basket. The stadium erupted despite the basket going against the home team.

After the game, LeBron talked about what watching that moment meant for his family.

“He’s better than I would have been in that situation, 20,000 fans screaming my name to get in the game and wanting me to be in the game,” LeBron said. ‘If the role’s reversed, I don’t know if I would have been able to handle it. So, just commend him on his composure, the way he approaches, not only the game, the way he approaches life in general and to see him get his first NBA basket, in this arena where he grew up not too far away from here, it’s an unbelievable moment.

“Unbelievable moment for him, first of all. For our family it’s just pretty cool to be a part of it.”

LeBron is definitely giving proud dad vibes with this quote, as he should. This isn’t just his former team that he played for across 11 seasons combined. This is Bronny and Lebron’s home state.

They’ve already made many memories together in that building and now it’s a full circle moment and a family affair.

It wasn’t just LeBron and Bronny working together as members of the Lakers as the sole representatives of the James family; Gloria James, Bronny’s grandmother, was also in attendance.

She watched her grandson score his first-ever points and has been present for a lot of historic James basketball moments, like when LeBron became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

After the game, Bronny shared how long he’s been dreaming about this and how it lived up to his expectations.

“Pretty much since I picked the ball up,” Bronny said. “Been watching this guy [LeBron] for a minute play in the league. So, just dreaming of me being in those players’ steps, not only his but players he used to play against and with. So yeah, it was just a dream come true for me. It felt really good. After the fact, I was still in game mode when I hit the shot, so I didn’t really acknowledge it while I was playing, but yeah, it felt good after.”

Naturally, every player remembers dreams of that first basket, but it’s hard to top the tension and attention Bronny had in his first basket. And while lots of players have their first points drift into the memories of the past, Anthony Davis noted that Bronny likely won’t ever forget this one.

“Obviously, you always remember your first basket,” Davis said. “For him to do it here, I know it means the world to him. He got the basketball. Special memory for him. It sucks we didn’t get the win. I know it’s something that he’ll remember. Most guys, their first basket probably is a little foggy but for him, I think it’s something he’ll remember very vividly just because of being here and all the history he has here growing up here and being from here and his dad doing what he was able to do here.

“I know it’s something he’ll definitely cherish the rest of his life.”

Nothing about the Bronny experience has been status quo. It’s all been unprecedented and groundbreaking. Now with the first father-son duo moment done and Bronny playing in Cleveland and scoring complete, the media circus will likely die down a little.

He hasn’t shown any indication that all of the noise has bothered him, but either way, there will be less speculation about when he’ll play now that he’s scored and shared the floor with LeBron.

The next step for Bronny is to spend time in the G League honing his craft. He’s expected to get sent down after this five-game road trip concludes.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.