LeBron James admits he ‘lost focus’ playing with Bronny for 1st time as professionals

Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has experienced just about everything the NBA has to offer, but right now, he’s navigating uncharted territory — even for him.

With the Lakers selecting James’ son Bronny in the 2024 NBA Draft, the father and son are now teammates, and the elder James recently admitted that he lost focus a couple of times while training with his son for the first time as professionals.

“This week, we got back into the gym, and it was really the first time that me and Bronny was basically on the floor as professionals, trainin’, goin’ against each other, preparin’ for the season, and it was — I had a couple moments where I kinda just — I lost focus,” the elder James said last week.

“And I’m not used to losin’ focus when I’m out on the floor, but it was a couple times I was just lookin’ to the side and just watchin’ him and watchin’ him prepare and watchin’ him go after it, and it was just — it’s gonna be an unbelievable year for myself and I hope for him as well.”

While the elder James might have lost focus a couple of times while training with his son recently, it’s hard to imagine that focus will be a problem for the NBA legend very often during the 2024-25 season.

There may be some moments where he has a hard time believing that he gets to share the floor with his son, but during his 21-year career, he has done a fantastic job of staying locked in and managing distractions.

Speculation is starting to build that the James duo will get some playing time together in L.A.’s season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves, even though the younger James is expected to spend much of his rookie season in the G League.

The NBA season starts before the G League season does, so there could be some opportunities for the younger James to get some action with L.A. in the early going.

The 19-year-old is coming off an uneven Summer League stint with the Lakers in which he often struggled, but he finished with a couple of strong performances. He’ll look to use those strong showings as momentum going into his rookie season.

After averaging just 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game during his lone collegiate season, the younger James has a lot to prove, but he’s going to get a lot of time to do so since the Lakers signed him to a four-year deal.

L.A.’s season opener — set for Oct. 22 — is now less than a month away.