LOS ANGELES — All told, it lasted three minutes.

Three minutes of history, of a father and son doing their warm-ups as camera phones and flashbulbs blast.

Three minutes of the show get in the way of the game, the moment gets in the way of winning.

Groundbreaking moment or clown show? It all depends on the eyes of the observer as they watch LeBron James and Bronny James take the floor at the same time late in the second quarter of the Lakers’ season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“I talked about it years and years ago and for this moment it was pretty cool,” said LeBron James. “At that point we still had work to do when we checked in. We tried not to make it a circus, we tried not to make it about us. We wanted to make it about the game.”

“We have kept the most important thing.”

The circus always seems to follow LeBron James, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop anytime soon. This happens to be the first time, as noted by Anthony Davis, that a milestone moment occurred in a win for the Lakers. So many celebrations have taken place against the backdrop of loss, and before the night began, it certainly felt like Tuesday would follow a similar journey.

But the Timberwolves seemed bored and absent for most of the evening, showing only glimpses of the team that surprisingly reached the Western Conference finals a few months ago.

It helped the Lakers win 110-103, and the victory was reassuring considering the criticism that would have come their way had those three minutes been precious.

“I wondered during a dead ball why everyone started cheering so loudly and then I realized what was happening,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “I thought, ‘that’s cool.’ It presented an opportunity for Bronny. He has played well and competed during the preseason to give him a chance to get things going in a regular season game.”

The pre-game hype obscured other mainstream storylines that will take center stage in the coming months. Redick’s slick hair was doused with water after his first win as a head coach, and Davis was the one leading the way, dominating Rudy Gobert with 36 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 37 minutes.

If Davis is really going to take center stage, a statement we’ve heard more than a few times before, this is the beginning. He gestured to the crowd more than once, seemingly indicating that Gobert was no match for him, and Davis stopped all air traffic near the rim with his presence.

“Just a leftover from the Olympics,” Davis said, referring to his time winning a gold medal with the U.S. national basketball team in Paris. “I mean, I had a summer where I got to play basketball. Playing at high intensity with great competition, alongside some great players who made me better. Coming into camp ready to go… that translated into regular season games.

That made the moment insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a moment the elder James won’t be able to forget. A moment the younger James probably couldn’t have imagined a year ago when he went into cardiac arrest while playing at USC, not far from the Crypto.com Arena.

Not much happened on the floor. Bronny was scored by Julius Randle and missed a three-pointer on a pass from his father. For those hoping for a Ken Griffey father-son moment, back-to-back home runs in Disney style in 1990, it was a dream that wouldn’t come true.

“I try not to focus on everything that’s going on around me,” Bronny James said. “Going in as a newcomer and trying not to screw it up. I really felt the energy and appreciate the Laker nation for showing their support.”

The baseball duo was there, taking in the moment and posing for photos with the James clan before the game started. It was clear that the Lakers wanted it to be a spectacle, and they also wanted to end it to take the pressure and expectations off for everyone involved. The Lakers are sticking to tradition and holding on to it like a warm blanket on a windy night while the rest of the NBA goes about its business.

A minute after Bronny James checked out, Laker great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was gingerly escorted to the back, aided by a wheelchair. Once the 77-year-old was recognized by a large number of fans near the tunnel, they cheered “Kareem” in appreciation, all but ignoring the play for about 15 seconds.

And shortly after Lakers longtime PA announcer Lawrence Tanter remarked to the Jameses’ history-making crowd, he also announced that there would be a halftime ceremony commemorating the life of the late Jerry West — another illustration of the connective tissue that pervades in the franchise.

Now it appears that West didn’t have the best relationship with the Lakers in his final years, most recently serving as an advisor to the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers before his death in June – his grievances aren’t exactly a secret to anyone within reason earshot of the Lakers or Clippers.

Their second most important figure – behind Magic Johnson – felt alienated by the franchise he helped build and shape on the floor, and as for James, they didn’t want to risk upsetting him when they knew what his wishes were.

That’s why at this point the hold on Bronny James can be loosened. It’s no insult to him to play three minutes. The insult came from being selected, even at 55th, when it seemed clear he wasn’t ready. The biggest came by giving him a guaranteed four-year contract when it was clear he wasn’t ready to contribute as a bona fide NBA player.

When you strip away the chilling details surrounding nepotism and merit, you can see how soothing it was that LeBron James was there for Bronny.

LeBron was going through nerves on the eve and day of his first game, that nationally televised event in Sacramento some 21 years ago. Granted, he couldn’t sleep the night before and couldn’t get through his usual pre-match nap.

“I was extremely nervous. I felt the world, the game of basketball on my shoulders,” James said. “I felt like everyone, other than my family and friends, wanted me to fail. I just channeled that. I was nervous, my stomach turned.”

But you can’t dismiss those issues, even though Bronny looked so precocious and slightly unsettled while sitting next to his father during their joint press conference. Whatever Bronny becomes, if he becomes anything in the next four years if given the chance, LeBron will be able to relate somehow, even through the struggle.

But Bronny was applauded, and even if there are those who point out that he is more likely to fail, it is impossible to say that the world is against him.

Father and son came as a package deal, and presumably the spectacle is over. But even if you turn your nose up at it for obvious reasons, James’ influence extended to the seven-foot player who dominated the night — because the Lakers wouldn’t have Anthony Davis without LeBron.

As always, it’s never cut and dry with LeBron James: it was three minutes of gray.