Should Lakers Play LeBron And Bronny Together In Preseason, Or Wait For Real Thing?

It’s one of those important questions as we await the NBA season. And we both know Lakers star LeBron James is eventually going to live his dream of playing in the NBA with son Bronny James.

(I dream of my own kids writing for Hoops Wire someday, but then again, I’d also like more for them than this. But enough about me.)

When James and James team up in the NBA, it will be a historical moment. Never before has a father played with his son. Not in the world of professional basketball.

That’s why I’m wondering if the Lakers shouldn’t wait to make it happen. Like, you know, in the regular season.

Believe it or not, we’re only about three weeks from the preseason. The Lakers tip it off Oct. 4 against the Timberwolves. If I’m reading their schedule correctly, and I believe I am, they play a ridiculous SIX preseason games.

The logical question is why? Teams don’t need more than two or three exhibition games. Why schedule so many? Oh, I know … money. That’s why. If the Lakers play, fans will show, and in droves. Like it or not, that’s how the NBA world works.

Interestingly, about a decade ago, one NBA front office employee told me the league “doesn’t require our teams to play ANY preseason games.” That individual is still employed in the league front office, so I can’t help but imagine it’s true.

So are teams scheduling their own practice games (which is all these truly are)? I don’t really think so, but it is what I was told.

Back to James and James.

When they take the court together, it will be history. That much we know. The question is, should they make that history in a game that doesn’t count? Or should they wait until one that does? Or do they make history twice (in the preseason and again in the regular one)?

Granted, Bronny is likely to spend most of his time with the South Bay Lakers of the G League — which very well could mark the first time a G League team participated in repeated sellouts.

But before the NBA season starts about a month before that of the affiliate clubs. And we all know LeBron and Bronny will take the court together. All that’s left is for the Lakers — and mostly, LeBron — to decide when that history-making occurrence should take place.