Oversized headphones on his ears and dressed in full Lakers gold as he geared up for his NBA Summer League debut, rookie Bronny James looked so much like his famous father LeBron it caused people to do a double-take.
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Bronny James took his place in the starting lineup for Los Angeles and his professional career was formally underway on Saturday.
If all goes as planned, the 19-year-old James and his dad would become the first father-son pair to play in the NBA at the same time - and on the same team no less.
Bronny James sure felt the love and support Saturday, even playing in the Bay Area ruled by Stephen Curry and the Warriors.
"The atmosphere, it was more than I expected," James said.
"It's a big game for me but I didn't know the people of Golden State would come and rep for me, so that was pretty nice to see."
James scored four points with a pair of assists, two rebounds and a steal in just under 22 minutes of court time as the Lakers lost 108-94 to the Sacramento Kings.
"Every first game that I step on the next level there's always some butterflies in my stomach," he said.
"But as soon as the ball tips and we go a couple times down it all goes away and I'm just playing basketball."
James scored his first NBA points on a driving layup about six minutes before halftime and later missed a pair of free throws in his first trip to the line.
Drafted by the Lakers with the 55th overall selection in the second round out of the University of Southern California, Bronny is NBA career scoring leader LeBron's oldest son.
He survived cardiac arrest last July during a team workout at USC and was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect.
The younger James signed a four-year contract that will pay him $7.9 million.
"It's for sure amplified the amount of pressure," he said.
"I've already seen it in (social) media and on the internet and stuff talking about (how) I might not deserve an opportunity.
"But I've been dealing with stuff like this for my whole life. It's nothing different. It's more amplified for sure, but I can get through it."
Australian Associated Press
