That Los Angeles Lakers rookie guard Bronny James is still playing basketball, let alone in the toughest and most talented basketball league in the world, is already a major success for the eldest son of four-time NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James.
It appeared to many that Bronny wouldn’t be able to continue playing the sport that he loves the most after he suffered a cardiac arrest during practice at USC in the summer of 2023. But Bronny has defied the odds and is now a teammate with his dad in the most iconic basketball franchise in the NBA.
Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James recalls incident
In a recent interview with Hanif Abdurraqib of Men’s Health, Bronny recalled what he remembered during that health scare.
WHEN BRONNY TALKS about “the heart incident,” as he refers to it, he momentarily tenses up, drops eye contact. He tells me that it just felt like a normal day. He had his smoothie and went to go to a summer workout on USC’s campus before school started and the season kicked off in earnest. Midway through running drills, he says, he blacked out, doesn’t remember anything else. He had suffered a cardiac arrest. When I ask if he was concerned, in the moment, about his ability to play again, he says, “At the point when it happened, there were a whole bunch of categories that what had happened could fall under, so yeah. There were a whole lot of emotions…”
After playing just a season with the Trojans, during which he averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists through 25 games, Bronny declared for the 2024 NBA Draft. He was picked by the Lakers in the second round as the 55th overall selection of that year’s draft class.
At just 20 years old, Bronny has so much in front of him, and he’s definitely not taking for granted the opportunity to play hoops again after the health scare.
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