LeBron James Dedicates His NBA Season to Son Bronny James After His Cardiac Arrest

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James provided a positive health update about son Bronny James on Monday, stating that the University of Southern California freshman started rehab and hopes to return at some point this season after suffering a cardiac arrest during a preseason practice on July 24. His collapse during practice prompted a trip to the hospital and further testing, which revealed a congenital heart defect.

“Bronny is doing extremely well,” James said at Lakers Media Day. “”He has begun his rehab process to get back on the floor this season with his teammates at USC. (With) the successful surgery that he had, he’s on the up-and-up. It’s definitely a whirlwind, a lot of emotions for our family this summer. But the best thing we have is each other and we stuck behind each other and gave each other strength through the whole process. We are happy to see where he is today and we look forward to seeing what his future still has in store for him.”

LeBron said that he is dedicating his 21st season in the league to his oldest son after the health scare. 

“Nothing else matters besides my family,” James said. “Obviously I’m going to dedicate this season to Bronny because of the incident that happened this summer and understanding that it just puts everything in perspective and no matter what’s going on in your life at that point in time, the only thing that matters is your family. To see what he’s had to go through over the last few months, it’s been a lot. … if he were to walk through the door right now, you wouldn’t even know he had what he had because of how well he was moving.”

The Lakers finished the 2022-23 season with a loss to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals and are considered one of the top contenders after making a handful of offseason moves that included signing center Christian Wood and guard Gabe Vincent in free agency.  

Bronny missed USC’s overseas trip to Greece and Croatia for a three-game game summer tour and most recently was absent from the start of the Trojans’ first preseason practice last week. James ranked as the No. 28 player from the 2023 recruiting cycle by 247Sports and helped the Trojans finish No. 3 in the 2023 class rankings.

“Bronny’s doing very well,” Enfield said on Sept. 26. “But we just can’t comment on anything medically. He’s going to class and doing extremely well in school, and we’re really excited for him.”

This story was originally published by CBS Sports on Oct. 2, 2023.

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