Bronny James made an impact in his 2025 NBA Summer League debut for the Los Angeles Lakers, highlighted by a viral steal-and-dunk sequence against the Miami Heat.
His biggest supporter was pretty impressed.
LeBron James reposted the highlight on Instagram with the caption, “BRONNY SHOWTIME.”
The dunk, just seconds into the game, underscored Bronny’s potential to become a defensive menace in his hopes to contribute to the Lakers finally. Something you might expect from a player who signed a four-year, multi-million-dollar contract with the club as a late second-round draft pick.
James scored 10 points in the game on 3 of 7 shooting.
LeBron James is loving Bronny going off in Summer League 🔥 pic.twitter.com/V1AzrogoJE
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) July 6, 2025
LeBron James Hyping Up Bronny
Bronny James, entering his second professional season, aims to earn more rotation minutes with the Lakers after a promising G League performance last season.
LeBron, preparing for his 23rd NBA season, expressed pride in his son’s development after achieving his goal of playing alongside him last season.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen LeBron hype Bronny in a desperate move to portray his son, whom he had pressured the Lakers to select in the draft, as NBA-capable.
The duo made history by becoming the first father-son duo to play together in an NBA game during the Los Angeles Lakers‘ season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves last year.
A hot mic caught Papa James getting Bronny hyped and ready for the moment he entered his first game.
“Y’all ready? You see the intensity, right? Just play carefree, though. Don’t worry about mistakes. Just go out and play hard,” LeBron said.
It was an incredible moment. A completely forced moment by the entire Lakers organization. But an astonishing moment nonetheless.
LeBron: "You ready?"
Bronny: "Yup."
This LeBron and Bronny moment mic’d up ❤️🎙️ pic.twitter.com/ffzTOoIdCx
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 23, 2024
RELATED: Ever Since Stephen A Smith Said Bronny James ‘Belonged’ in the NBA, He’s Been Playing Like Bronny James
Desperate to Make Him Look Good
Bronny James’ rookie season with the Lakers in 2024-25 was marked by significant struggles in shooting efficiency, averaging just 2.3 points per game on 31% field goal shooting and 28% from three-point range across 27 NBA appearances.
Despite showing defensive promise and improvement in the G League, his offensive output was limited whenever he was called upon to face actual NBA talent.
His supporters oftentimes have to manufacture ways to hype his efforts. That includes this latest dunk. It wasn’t evidence of “showtime” since it gave the game a 2-0 score, and it wasn’t from the foul line, as some social media posts suggested.
In fact, it wasn’t even close to being from the free-throw line.
ESPN recently celebrated Bronny and LeBron being the highest-scoring father-son duo in league history. LeBron and Bronny James now have a combined 42,246 points: LeBron (42,184) and Bronny (62).
Sixty-two points.
The duo will expand on that record, no doubt, this coming season.
Ever Since Stephen A Smith Said Bronny James ‘Belonged’ in the NBA, He’s Been Playing Like Bronny James
Rusty Weiss is a lifelong Los Angeles Dodgers, Dallas Cowboys, and Xavier Musketeers fan. He has been writing professionally ... More about Rusty Weiss