LeBron James is absolutely cooking in the first round of the 2026 NBA playoffs. The cherry on top of this vintage performance: a father-son connection in Game 3 of the Lakers-Rocket series.
With a little over seven minutes left in the second quarter, James led a fastbreak attack off a Reed Sheppard miss. As the Rockets’ transition defenders kept their eyes on the King, Bronny James went on a rim run, caught a perfectly thrown lob pass from his father, and got a reverse layup to go.
Though Toyota Center is the Rockets’ home base, the crowd went wild for the LeBron James-Bronny James highlight.
“Greatest sports accomplishment of all time is Bron and son pick n roll”
“The James family just dropped the ultimate father-son moment. NBA Twitter won’t recover from this one”
“Bronny got that lob from Pops and the arena exploded. James bloodline too cold”
“Bronny might win a ring before Joel Embiid”
“The Rockets defense just stood there and watched a father-son duo run a fast break on them in Game 3. That is the ultimate mental warfare. The series is effectively over.”
“And then you get moments like Bron to Bronny… yeah this is bigger than just this game.”
Though Bronny James hasn’t been getting an abundance of minutes in this series, his alley-oop play with his father LeBron James is a statement in more ways than one.
It will be recalled that, just last month, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka was caught on camera sarcastically pleading with his counterpart JJ Redick to put Bronny into a won game for the Lakers. Udoka went so far as to call Bronny a “little b*tch.” Now, the James duo is helping the Lakers push the Rockets to the brink of elimination in their first-round series.
“Moved Closer to the Legacy of Michael Jordan”: Kenny Smith Comments on LeBron James’ Playoff Brilliance
With LeBron James powering the Lakers to a 2-0 lead in this series against the Rockets, analyst Kenny Smith offered a bold take on his legacy in the NBA.
“LeBron James has moved a slight-bit closer to the legacy of Michael Jordan in my mind,” Smith said on “First Take.”
Interestingly, well-known LBJ antagonist Stephen A. Smith agreed with his fellow Queens native, saying that James is “moving closer to GOAT status.”
