Tragic Details About Lebron James' Oldest Son Bronny James

Being the son of LeBron James has clear advantages, but the life of Bronny James has not all been smooth sailing. He goes by Bronny, but his legal name is LeBron James Jr., which wound up putting a large bullseye on his back as the son of the NBA star started his own basketball career. "I still regret giving my 14-year-old my name," LeBron said of his oldest son while appearing on HBO's "The Shop" in July 2018. Years later, as his son was finishing up his time in high school, LeBron put more attention on the teenager. "Man Bronny definitely better than some of these cats I've been watching on [NBA's] league pass today," the Los Angeles Lakers forward wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in March 2023. Even before high school, fans had gravitated towards the youngster.

The young James did not need extra attention. Footage of Bronny playing hoops went viral in February 2015 when he was only 10-years-old. It was even news back then that Bronny chose a different jersey number than his dad. By the time he was starting high school, Bronny was drawing crowds at his games at Sierra Canyon when he was only 14-years-old.

A few years later, Bronny landed a major deal with Nike when he signed a name-image-likeness deal with the shoe company. "For as long as I can remember, Nike's been a part of my family," he said in a statement at the time, per ESPN. In March 2023, as his high school career was coming to a close, Bronny's annual NIL valuation was estimated at $7.2 million, according to Sports Illustrated. The future seemed limitless for the young hooper, but tragedy struck Bronny early on in his college career.

After graduating high school, Bronny James went to the University of Southern California for college. There was a frightening scene before his first game, as the then-18-year-old collapsed to the ground from cardiac arrest during a practice in July 2023. "We need an ambulance here immediately. Listen to me, we need an ambulance here now," a person told 911 at the time, per NBC Los Angeles. "I thought (Bronny) was having a seizure. I didn't think he was having cardiac arrest," USC assistant coach, Eric Mobley, told The Orange County Register when recalling the event months later in January.

Fortunately, Bronny was in stable condition after his cardiac arrest and was released from Mount Cedars-Sinai hospital only days after the incident. The young ball player was still not fully in the clear. A few months after Bronny collapsed during practice, LeBron James spoke to the Los Angeles Lakers media about his son's health. "He's begun his rehab process to get back on the floor this season with his teammates and USC — the successful surgery that he had. But he's on the up and up," LeBron said while not going into details about what procedure Bronny had exactly.

Just four months after suffering cardiac arrest, Bronny was cleared to return to the court for USC in November 2023, but coaches eased him back. "I just wanna say I'm thankful for everything," Bronny said in a statement the following January while mentioning how instrumental his family, and coaching staff had been in his recovery, per the OC Register. Collapsing during practice may have been the most harrowing on-court moment for Bronny, but it was not his first time facing adversity on the hardwood.

Being embarrassed by your parents' behavior is a cringe-worthy moment for any teenager, especially when the parent is LeBron James and footage of the incident goes viral. LeBron went to watch Bronny James play in an AAU tournament in July 2019 when he was 14-years-old, and the former Cleveland Cavaliers star decided to join the team's layup line where King James threw down a series of massive dunks. LeBron also became the center of attention during a game when he exuberantly ran onto the court to congratulate one of Bronny's teammates, and lost a shoe in the process. 

Bron had to jump in the warm up line real quick 😳

(via qwik11hoops/IG) pic.twitter.com/3gtkS7PjPM

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 27, 2019

That overzealous behavior was skewered by multiple sports-talk pundits. "In his mind, LeBron is making fatherhood cool and fun again. I disagree," Jason Whitlock said at the time on Fox Sports 1's "Speak For Yourself" [via The Washington Post]. Whitlock believed the NBA player was deliberately outshining Bronny. "LeBron is making a spectacle of himself, a circus of his son's early playing days and using his son's game as yet another platform to build the LeBron social media brand," he added. Not to be outdone, FS1's Skip Bayless also took LeBron to task for his antics during Bronny's game. "This was so embarrassing to LeBron James and especially to his son, Bronny ... LeBron has become so attention-starved," Bayless said on "The Facility." Fans also chimed-in online, with one saying on X that neither Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan would have behaved that way at a child's game. 

As Bronny grew older, he had to deal with more than just online trash talk. 

Even when LeBron James was not in attendance, Bronny James's high school games became a spectacle. In November 2021, when his Sierra Canyon team was playing an away game some fans pushed the envelope on decency by trolling the young guard. A group of fans showed up to the game with a Chinese flag that had a crudely-pasted photo of LeBron crying (which was a popular meme at the time). This came on the heels of fellow NBA player Enes Kanter bashing LeBron for supporting Nike and their factories in China.

Footage of the taunting went viral on multiple Instagram accounts, and several people believed it was just treatment for the son of an NBA legend. "Sometimes it's not easy to be the king son," one Instagram user wrote. "Sins of the father, he better get used to it," another added. There were others however, who believed the Chinese flag gag was going overboard. "Dammm [a little] to foul for my taste," a fan wrote.

Of course, Bronny being mercilessly heckled did not let up after he finished high school. When the University of Southern California Trojans visited the University of California, Los Angeles Bruins in February 2024, Bronny was greeted with a chorus of chants including "overrated" and "who's your daddy." As footage of the taunts was shared online, a fan on X postulated that Bronny would only make the NBA because of his dad. That narrative continued when Bronny was drafted.

The cries of Bronny James being overrated continued after his time in college when he was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers — the same team LeBron James played for — with pick no. 55 in the 2024 NBA Draft. This followed Bronny's lackluster single season at the University of Southern California where he averaged only 4.8 points per game. "My dream has always just been to, put my name out, make a name for myself, and of course, get to the NBA," Bronny said leading up to being drafted by the Lakers, per ESPN. Naturally, this led to many claiming that nepotism was the only reason Bronny could crack a spot in the league. That continued when the rookie signed a 4-year $7.9 million contract with the team — which, if you are unfamiliar with NBA contracts, is virtually unheard of for a player picked up so late in the draft.

Many fans and prognosticators were bothered to see that Bronny would be playing alongside his father on the Lakers, but some came to his defense. "I don't want to hear it all of a sudden because Bronny James' father plays for the Lakers. It is rampant in this league," Adrian Wojnarowski said on ESPN at the time.

Regardless of nepotism, it made for an awkward situation. Even LeBron admitted that there could be awkward moments playing alongside his oldest son, and made it clear that he wanted Bronny to refer to him as "LeBron" when they played. "We cannot be running down the court, and he'd be like, 'Dad, push the ball up! Dad, I'm open! Dad, come on!'" LeBron joked on "The Shop" podcast in August. Bronny also caught criticism for how he carried himself off-the-court.

When he was in high school, multiple racist comments were directed towards Bronny James because of his relationship with Peyton Gelfuso, who is white. The first instance happened in September 2020 when the basketball star appeared in one of Gelfuso's TikToks. "15 year old Bronny James is trending because he did a TikTok with a white girl? Daf** is wrong with y'all??" a disgruntled X user wrote at the time.

The backlash of James's and Gelfuso's relationship only intensified a couple years later when they went to prom together in May 2022. "Lost another black king to a money hungry white girl," a person wrote on X after their prom photos went viral [via the Daily Mail]. The insensitive comments were so out of control that former NFL player, Robert Griffin III, made an Instagram video pleading with people to "LEAVE THESE KIDS ALONE!" For the record, James and Gelfuso had never confirmed their relationship status, but many outlets assumed they were dating as they had been seen together on multiple occasions through the years.

Bronny James and his date for Prom 2023 pic.twitter.com/RJ8UaBiGSe

— Bronupdates (@Bronupdates) May 22, 2023

A year later, backlash continued when Bronny brought Gelfuso as his date to his senior prom in May 2023. His mother, Savannah James, uploaded an Instagram carousel of her son getting ready for prom, which included a snap with Gelfuso. Those and other photos of the pair were shared on X where once again, a deluge of ignorant comments were made. "Bronny ... why put your money back into the oppressor's hand," one X user wrote.