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Bronny James has always lived in the shadow of his superstar dad, LeBron James. And no one understands that dynamic more than Ken Griffey Jr.
In 1990, Griffey and his father, Ken Griffey Sr., became the first father-son duo to play together on a Major League Baseball team. In 2024, Bronny and LeBron accomplished that same feat in the NBA. So ahead of Bronny’s NBA debut for the Los Angeles Lakers in October, it was only appropriate that the Griffeys were in attendance.
Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. were in attendance to watch LeBron James and Bronny James become the first father-son teammates in the NBA.
(Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
On Tuesday’s episode of the Nightcap podcast with Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson, Griffey Jr. revealed the advice he gave to 20-year-old Bronny. Learn from your father, the MLB legend said, but don’t try to be him.
“You’re gonna learn a lot by being able to sit there and be on the bench watching him,” Griffey said. “People say he needs to be in the G-League, and he needs this and that. I’ll tell you what, I learned more sitting there watching my dad than anything. You look at all these quarterbacks who sit behind somebody and how good they end up becoming.
“They didn’t play, they got to sit and learn a system. Learn how to be a professional, learn how to take notes and watch film and do all these things to become a pro to go out there and be successful.”
The Lakers drafted Bronny in the second round (No. 55 overall) of this year’s NBA Draft after he averaged 4.8 points per game in his one season at USC. And it’s awfully difficult to argue that nepotism wasn’t a factor.
Ken Griffey Jr. Says Bronny James Will Get Better
The younger Griffey might have faced the same accusations of nepotism more than three decades ago. But it didn’t take him long to create his own legacy outside his father’s. During his 22-year Hall of Fame career, Griffey Jr. was a 13-time All-Star, the 1997 American League MVP and a four-time AL home run leader. He also racked up 10 Gold Gloves and seven Silver Slugger awards.
Bronny has a lot of work to do if he’s going to reach that level of success.
“I did tell Bronny to just relax, enjoy it, be you. You are not gonna be him. Nobody is him,” Griffey Jr. said. “When I got there, my dad told me that this is your team, I am just here. And he was dad at the house and teammate at the ball park. But like I said, there were times that I rode home with mom. It was much safer.”
Bronny has seen very little action in the first couple weeks of the regular season. He scored his first and only points against the Cleveland Cavaliers — his father’s former team — on Oct. 30.
