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LOS ANGELES — In reality it lasted 2 minutes and 41 seconds. In all likelihood, this will last the rest of our lives.

A father and son shared the floor in an NBA game. For the first time. Maybe the last? To duplicate what LeBron James and Bronny James have accomplished, a father would have to play about 20 years in the NBA to begin with, which is rare enough.

Even with that, it doesn’t guarantee that the son will pursue basketball or even choose to play.

And so history happened Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena, with four minutes left before halftime, as father and son both took part in the game against the Timberwolves. Fans stood up, cell phone cameras went up and the sound of the horn was drowned out by applause.

Here are five takeaways from the Lakers’ 110-103 win, starting with what everyone came to see:

1. Check-in for the Lakers, James and James

The situation and setting were nearly perfect: the score was 52-35 in favor of the Lakers and the final minutes were ticking toward halftime.

So there was no need to force the issue and make the situation awkward. Bronny, the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, wasn’t the first player to come off the bench. And he didn’t stay in the game beyond the next timeout, nor did he return in the second half.

As these things could possibly go, they happened naturally and reasonably.

The only downside was Bronny missing a three-point shot after catching a cross-court pass from his father. If that ball had swung – on a Source-Source connection – the arena would have burst. Instead, the crowd let out a collective groan. Still history.

Bronny took two shots, the first, a follow-up attempt, was deflected by Rudy Gobert. He flashed solid rotational moves and defensive instincts. Then his night was over.

“Everything was just great today,” LeBron said. “I saw my daughter (Zhuri, who turned 10) before she went to school, and my son at work.”

LeBron deserves this because he respects the game enough to stay in impeccable shape, obviously because he has performed at a high level for decades and lasted so long in the league, and because he prepared his son for this moment.

What happens next is basically pointless. Bronny can, as expected, go to the G-League and fall through the cracks or return to the Lakers roster and be nothing more than a backup because the historic goal has been accomplished. Everything else is secondary.

2. The Griffeys got there first

Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Jr. attended the game and posed for a photo with LeBron and Bronny before tipoff. The Griffeys became the first father-and-son tandem for the Seattle Mariners on August 31, 1990.

“It was a different situation for me than it was for LeBron,” Griffey Sr. said. Tuesday after the game. “Seattle tried to get rid of me. I was in the league for 18 years. Also, I didn’t think (Junior) would be called up from the minors. Then the regular first baseman got injured, they had no one else to play the position but me… I hit .314 in the spring, so they couldn’t lose me. And my son set records in spring training, so we became father and son. I didn’t think it would happen so quickly.”

Two moments captured their two seasons together: They hit back-to-back home runs in September 1990, and Griffey Sr. said: “I homered first, so all the pressure was on him. The score was 3-0 and I thought he was just going to walk. The next pitch was a sinker and away and he struck it out anyway. He had to reach for it because he wanted it to happen.

Next? When Junior rushed over and caught a fly ball intended for his father when they were playing in the outfield. Griffey Sr. said, “I grounded him for that.”

Those memories quickly came back to the Griffeys and Griffey Sr. on Tuesday. was mainly preoccupied with the moment.

“It’s just legendary watching those two,” he said of LeBron and Bronny. “As a father, I loved every minute of it and I know LeBron did too.”

3. Davis is making an MVP-like debut

Aside from Bronny getting burned, the next welcome sight from the Lakers’ standpoint was Anthony Davis making a powerful opening statement.

He was, in a word, dominant: 36 points, 16 rebounds, 3 blocks. And most of all, it came against a four-time Kia Defensive Player of the Year. In that sense, this was Paris, Redux – Davis played well on the gold medal-winning Team USA, which defeated Gobert and France in the final.

There will be nights, perhaps many, where the Lakers need Davis to be the best player on the court at both ends, and he is certainly capable of that.

Davis has never won the DPOY award, but that didn’t show Tuesday, especially after a vicious block on Gobert that saw him deny a dunk.

4. Randle more rusty than ready

He played just one preseason game and missed part of last season in New York due to injury, so Julius Randle’s early, early return may have been as expected.

He looked disconnected all night, never establishing a smooth flow and often falling victim to his biggest flaw: poor ball handling and poor decision-making.

Randle will likely settle in and give the Wolves a much-needed scorer in the second half of Edwards for two reasons: he’s playing for a contract extension and if healthy, he’s All-Star eligible.

However, there is one problematic byproduct of the trade that came into New York. Randle can be an average 3-point shooter at best. However, he replaces one of the better shooting big men in recent history. So the decline in that area puts pressure on others, like Donte DiVincenzo, to compensate. But DiVincenzo shot 2-for-8 from deep.

5. Ant can’t do everything

Is this how the Wolves will operate for most of the season, with Anthony Edwards being the only reliable volume shooter? With Towns gone, Edwards made 25 shots (for 27 points despite constant double teams); the next highest was DiVincenzo with 11.

The Wolves were the league’s best defensive team last season, but scoring was a problem. A lot depends on Randle, a proven 20-point scorer, and how he fits next to Edwards. But there is also a sense of attacking urgency from others, and whether they can improve their play.

It will be down to DiVincenzo, Kia Sixth Man Award winner Naz Reid and perhaps Jaden McDaniels, who is a shut-down defender but very inconsistent offensively and limited to corner 3s.

Last season the Wolves reached the conference finals. This time, their chances of going one step further and making the NBA Finals will depend on Minnesota’s ability to find the right balance. It didn’t happen in the season opener, when they shot 41% overall and 31% from deep.

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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can email him herefind his archive here And follow him on X.

The views expressed on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Warner Bros. Discovery.