Lakers News: LeBron James Talks Playing Against Son's Former Teammate

Father James gets funny about father time...

Sunday night the Lakers defeated the Memphis Grizzlies to collect their first win of the 2021-22 season. Grizzlies rookie Ziaire Williams saw some time on the court, despite having a tough game shooting. He scored 3 points in 18 minutes, but the story about Williams last night is less about his on the court numbers and more about his connection to LeBron James.

Williams was a teammate of James' son, Bronny. That's right, James' career now spans enough time that he plays against former teammates of his son. This feels like a more familiar concept in MLB than it would in the NBA. MLB has the allowance for slightly older players to still hang around, especially pitching or in platoon roles. the NBA and basketball just don't work that way. 

James saw the humor in this as well.

“I looked at Ziaire a couple times, and I was just shaking my head inside. Just remembering really a year-and-a-half ago, two years, not even full two years, he was hitting a game-winner to send them to the state championship alongside my son … one year at Stanford [University] and now he’s here. It’s a weird dynamic for myself to see something like that but happy for the kid obviously, but it was definitely — I had a moment for sure.”

So far, Williams has played only a few minutes a game in the NBA but is making his presence known. James the younger (Bronny) is hoping to join the ranks of the NBA fraternity in the near future. His skill and performances so far are looking upwards, and he obviously has the connections. 

The Lakers take on the Spurs on Tuesday in San Antonio.