Forget the game.

This was about the moment.

Twenty minutes into the Lakers season opener against Minnesota, with exactly four minutes left in the second quarter and LA up 14, the 18,997 fans packed into the Crypto.com Arena witnessed history. LeBron James joined the game. Bronny James, his eldest son, reported next to him. For the first time in the 78-year history of the NBA, father and son shared the floor.

“I totally felt the energy,” Bronny said.

LeBron said: “That moment, sitting at the scorer’s table together and checking in together, is something I will never forget. No matter how old I get, no matter how my memory fades as I get older or whatever, I will never forget that moment.”

Even for the most cynical fan, this was cool. Minutes before he checked in, TNT microphones caught LeBron giving his new teammate a pep talk. “You see the intensity, right?” James asked Bronny. “Just play without a care in the world. Don’t worry about mistakes. Just play hard.”

And he did. Offensively, Bronny hustled in transition. He fought with Joe Ingles on the other side of the floor. On an early possession, the Jameses tried to establish a father-son relationship. Ingles read a Bronny back cut and sank the play. The next day, LeBron set up Bronny for an open three. He missed. After 2.5 minutes of action, Bronny was eliminated.

“I felt pretty good,” Bronny said. “I was a little worried going into it … that that first game, getting on the field, is a little nerve-wracking. But once I stepped on the field, got up and down a few times, it all went away.

There was definitely choreography in it. Bronny, a 20-year-old late second-round pick, had a rough preseason. He hadn’t earned a spot in the rotation. He hadn’t earned a place in the competition. But in the hours before the season opener, word began to filter out that he would play. And why not? The national television cameras were rolling. The Griffeys, the last father-son duo to share a Major League surface, were in the building. Better to have this moment happen now than during a mid-November game in Memphis.

And there were reasons to, you know, put an end to it. Bronny is a project. The Lakers know it. Bronnie knows. He’s a 6-foot-4 combo guard, an endangered species in today’s NBA. He has 483 minutes of college basketball experience on his resume. He shouldn’t be in Los Angeles. He should be in the South Bay, with the Lakers G-League affiliate. He doesn’t have to sit on a bench. He needs to play minutes.

Cynics will say Bronny didn’t deserve this opportunity. Fine. James probably wouldn’t have been drafted if it weren’t for his famous father. He certainly would not have been rewarded with a multi-year contract. But he didn’t need to work as hard as he did to become an NBA prospect, and he did. He didn’t need to continue playing basketball after a near-fatal heart incident in the summer of 2023…and he did. Ask about Bronny’s size and skills. You can’t question his dedication.

Another thing that connects father and son. In 22 seasons, LeBron has achieved something lot. Four championships, four MVPs, two decades of All-Star appearances. Last year, James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the NBA scoring list. This moment, James said, was different.

“I talked about it years and years ago and for this moment it’s pretty cool,” James said. “I don’t know if it’s going to happen to either of us for a minute where we can really sit back and say, ‘that was pretty crazy.’ But 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 sure the team would go out and keep playing the game.

Oh yes, the game. The Lakers won 110-103. Anthony Davis (36 points, 16 rebounds) was dominant. Rui Hachimura (a team-high +19) was sharp. In his coaching debut, JJ Redick looked up to the task. There is work to be done in the three-point shooting department (LA finished 5 of 30) and the bench needs to contribute more, but toppling a conference finalist on opening night is solid work.

“All our guys participated,” Redick said, “and that’s really all we’re asking for.”

Fine. There will be plenty of time to dissect the Lakers. This evening was about the Jameses. The entire clan was in the building on Tuesday. Friends, family, roundabout acquaintances. It provided a full circle moment. After the game, LeBron lamented the time he had lost with his family over the years. How playing with Bronny gave him the opportunity to get something back.

“I definitely noticed,” Bronny said. “It’s a lot of time that we haven’t had together. But it’s all part of what we like to do and there’s nothing we can do about it. So yeah, it’s a great feeling to be together and do what we love.”