LeBron James has been a busy man lately.
His Los Angeles Lakers just played four games in less than six full days to close the regular season. They finished 43-39 and claimed the top spot in the play-in tournament, in which they will face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.
During that span, James scored at least 33 points three times to ensure his team would have home-court advantage in that play-in game. He looked fatigued at times this week, and some even wondered if he was simply showing signs of wear and tear and could not summon his legendary explosiveness on demand anymore.
But he wasn’t too fatigued to spend quality time with his son Bronny James.
The younger James played his final organized basketball game as a high school student on Saturday at the Nike Hoop Summit as a member of Team USA. His father made the trip to the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, where the contest took place, to support him and watch him do his thing.
The elder James talked about the experience following the Lakers’ final regular-season game on Sunday versus the Utah Jazz and why he made the sacrifice to fly to Portland despite looking tired lately.
LeBron James on flying up & back to Portland yesterday to watch Bronny play: "I wasn't going to miss it. I understand how important fatherhood is, just coming from a no-father household. … We always try to support each other in all our endeavors. I'm only as good as my family."
— Greg Beacham (@gregbeacham) April 9, 2023
The younger James didn’t play well offensively, but his defense helped Team USA gain separation from the World team in the final minutes and defeat it, 90-84. Indeed, defense has been what allowed his stock to rise in recent months.
There are things people can criticize the elder James for, just like anyone else, but none of them has anything to do with the job he has done as a father.
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