LeBron James and Bronny James LeBron James and Bronny James made history Tuesday night, becoming the first father-son duo to play together in the NBA. Photo Credit: TNT Sports

LeBron and Bronny James made history Tuesday night, becoming the first father-son duo to play together in the NBA, but the moment seemingly didn’t resonate with The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.

For those who missed it, the 39-year-old LeBron checked into the game along with 20-year-old rookie Bronny late in the second quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.


The crowd roared and the TNT Sports broadcast showed images of the James family cheering, as announcer Ian Eagle noted, “This is all in the family, and what a celebration for the James family.”

While the moment was a longtime dream come true for LeBron, Le Batard & Co. were not feeling the vibes Wednesday morning. The show’s senior producer, Billy Gil, said the moment felt “fabricated.”

“I like having warm, fuzzy moments, but I like them to be natural and not feel like they’re fabricated,” Gil said, “like I’m being controlled by corporations essentially — Nike, really, if we’re going to name names. And I don’t want to feel like every ‘feel good’ is a big PR move by Nike to sell more Nike and that’s kind of how a lot of this has felt so far.”

“It’s what LeBron and Hollywood is meant to birth,” Le Batard said. “Because he’s doing what Peyton Manning is doing while he’s still playing. It’s almost the whole reason he went to Hollywood, to get the Hollywood ending.”

“But LeBron provided his kid and himself and his family with a special moment because he has the leverage to do so,” Jon ‘Stugotz’ Weiner said. “Maybe it was manufactured, you want these things to happen naturally, I actually understand what Billy is saying. But it still was a special, nice moment.”

“But it’s literally manufactured,” Le Batard said, “from the people who bring you ‘LeBron runs the entire NBA and Hollywood for 20 years, is the biggest athlete in America and at the end gets so many perks that he chooses the coach and his kid is on the bench cause he’s going to get the ending that he wants.'”

“Here’s the thing that feels manufactured about it …” Gil began.

“It is manufactured, all of it,” Le Batard interrupted.

“The reason that we know … is because as soon as he gets drafted, there’s commercial campaigns that come out,” Gil said. “It doesn’t feel real … it just feels so over-the-top manufactured by Nike and the NBA.”

There was definitely some of that sentiment in the air in the sports media Wednesday morning. On ESPN’s First Take, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo shared similar thoughts about the moment being overhyped.

“This might be fun for LeBron,” Russo said. “Nobody in America cares that Bronny James played three minutes and grabbed one rebound at 11 o’clock at night in the opener and this is supposed to be a moment that America is gonna resonate with?”


These are just the latest negative reactions we’ve seen to Bronny James joining the Lakers. Stephen A. Smith recently called out the sports media’s cynicism toward LeBron bringing Bronny to the team, saying the legend has “earned” the right to have this experience with his son.

[Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz]

About Arthur Weinstein

Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.