Last month, LeBron James officially appeared in an NBA game alongside his son, Bronny James, bringing an end to a storyline that had spanned more than six years.
Now it appears it’s time to do it all over again.
While the James family has already made history by producing the first father-son duo to ever share an NBA court — something LeBron first forecasted in 2018 — speculation is already underway regarding whether Bryce James will be joining his dad and older brother in the league. ESPN’s Shams Charania soft launched that very storyline on Thursday, while discussing the 39-year-old James’ future with Stephen A. Smith on First Take.
“My sense is next season could potentially be his last season in the NBA,” Charania said. “Now could he play another season after that, 2026-27? Potentially. Bryce James, his youngest son, class of 2025 — maybe Bryce James keeps him around an extra year or two. But I do think next season, All-Star game in L.A., there might be some good momentum there for that.”
As anyone familiar with James-related news cycles knows, once you put that out there, there’s no taking it back. As such, it was hardly a surprise that the biggest takeaway from Charania’s comments for many was the possibility of the four-time NBA MVP teaming with his other son, even while the NBA insider stated his belief that next season would likely be the last of his career.
As Charania noted, Bryce James is currently a high school senior, meaning that he wouldn’t be eligible to enter the league until the 2026 NBA Draft. As a three-star prospect and the country’s No. 259 prospect according to 247Sports’ composite rankings, the 17-year-old hardly possesses a resume that suggests he’ll be an NBA-caliber prospect following his freshman season of college — although one could have made the same argument about Bronny.
Still, that didn’t stop the Lakers from not only using a second-round pick on the USC guard, but shoehorning him into their opening night rotation to manufacture the historic moment of LeBron and Bronny playing together. While it’s unclear whether the Lakers would be willing to do it again or if James — who will turn 40 in December — will play long enough to make it happen, the seeds for the storyline have now been planted.