 | | From Father to Son | | by Taylor Geas | | | Throughout the first three games of Round 1 of the 2026 Playoffs, LeBron James was the only player to be ranked top 10 for total points, rebounds, assists, steals, and field goals made.
At 41.
There will only ever be one LeBron James…
Except that there are two.
And where they are both their own person, there are undeniable, unavoidable qualities and traits passed down from father to son. In this case, Bronny has inherited his dad’s love of routine, his propensity for loyalty, and his relationship with success.
At the start of the 2025–26 season, when asked what his perfect day would entail, Bronny James answered, “Wake up around 7:30 am. Come here [to the UCLA Health Training Center], eat breakfast, work out. After the workout, probably get some treatment, and then I’ll either go home and play the game for a little while or go golf, either one of those. Make dinner around 8–8:30 pm. In bed around 10 pm. Sleep by 11 pm.”
He was asked to clarify, “That’s your perfect day? Your normal routine?”
“Yeah.”
But maybe the evidence is in the outcome because at 21 years old, his second year in the league was marked by true Playoff minutes. Bronny explained his growth this year from last comes as a result of, “My routine’s gotten way better. There have been a lot more perfect days.”
And he’s proud of himself for staying with it. “There’s been a lot of talk and stuff around my name,” he said. “I had a couple average games that I bounced back from. I’m proud of myself for staying resilient and keeping the right mindset this season.”
James Jr. is genuine; he’s down-to-earth. Which is remarkable for someone who’s the son of one of the greatest basketball players of all time; for someone who could be handed anything he wants. He chose to dedicate himself to basketball.
He doesn’t try to manage opinions or optics. He’s confidently, unapologetically himself, a rarity today.
It’s the reason for the “Bronny” chants you hear in every arena around the country.
And he values those same qualities in the people he lets in his orbit: “Loyalty. Being genuine. Giving me things straight up if I’m not doing something right, or hyping me up when I’m doing something good,” he said.
He played a combined seven minutes in Game 1 and Game 2 as Los Angeles defeated the Houston Rockets twice in the First Round of the Playoffs. But his most impactful moments on the floor came in a brutal Game 3 overtime victory, where James Jr. played nine minutes with an assurance we hadn’t seen from him yet. He finished with five points and a moment that had fans of the NBA losing their minds—a moment he and his dad will remember forever. |  | LeBron James, who has more minutes of Playoffs experience than three full NBA seasons, explained, “In a postseason game, I’m always super locked in, and over the last three games there’s been many moments where I kind of locked out, and all the moments have been with Bronny. It just keeps getting better and better.”
One of these moments happened about halfway into the second quarter, when James tossed the ball up for his son arriving at the rim. The lob marked the first father-son alley-oop in NBA history.
“I’m not sure of the last time I got an oop from him,” Bronny explained. “…He saw me, he saw I was making eye contact with him, so he threw it up—and I’m always going to go get it.”
He shared that one of the team’s focuses is to run in transition. He was just following orders.
After the game, the moment had reporters conflicted, as LeBron spoke at the podium and Bronny spoke at his locker at the same time—they'd never experience something like this again.
To LeBron, this game signified a rite of passage for Bronny, growth in a sport he loves.
“The amount of confidence that a young kid can get from a postseason game,” James said. “You would never get nervous from a regular season moment ever again when you play meaningful postseason games and postseason minutes.”
And for the younger James, this was just a result of a slate of perfect days. “I focus on what’s going on right now and I try to make the best out of that. I don’t focus on anyone else’s input; I just do my own thing,” he said.
Because success is straightforward for Bronny; it’s about, “Growing as a player and a person every day. Getting the work in. And getting my mind right every day before I go to sleep.”
Staying in the right mindset and being consistent with the work is important to Bronny. He prioritizes routine, repetition and discipline. Is it possible this mentality was picked up from a family member? “Eh, it might be. My dad has it,” James Jr. replied. “He’s definitely one of the guys I look up to with stuff like that.”
And while it’s clear the younger James has carved out a path for himself, we all have traits from our parents that show themselves from time to time…
“Our ability to talk,” Bronny said, “I’ve caught myself and I’ve seen videos and clips of me talking and it sounds like him; people say I sound like him. There are a lot of differences—but sometimes there’s stuff and I’m like ‘damn.’” | | | | | |
