Bronny James’s first NBA basket coming in Cleveland was an ‘unbelievable moment’

Cavs fans embrace Bronny as he scores his first professional points on the court he played on as a kid.

LeBron James has achieved many milestones in his career. Many of them came on the Cleveland Cavaliers home court where he spent 11 seasons. But his son, Bronny James, did one thing that his dad didn’t. He scored his first NBA point just up the road from where he was born.

The Cavs fans recognized this could happen as the blowout crystalized. They spent most of the fourth quarter chanting “We want Bronny” and then unleashed one of the loudest cheers of the night when he was put into the game.

“He’s better than I would’ve been in that situation,” LeBron said. “Twenty thousand fans screaming my name to get in the game. If the roles were reversed, I don’t know if I would've been able to handle it.”

“The chants really got to me,” Bronny said. “I was straight-faced, but I felt it. It felt really good, especially coming from here.”

The fans booed Los Angeles Lakers Dalton Knecht when he made a wide-open layup instead of passing it to Bronny. But they erupted when he made his first basket. A baseline midrange jumper just like his dad did 21 years ago.

“It was insane,” Bronny said afterward about the reaction he got from the Cleveland fans. “Much more than I anticipated for sure, but it’s all love.”

“To see him get his first basket in this arena where he grew up not to far from here it’s an unbelievable moment,” LeBron said.

Bronny celebrated this unbelievable moment like any kid from Akron naturally would: with a postgame Swenson’s double cheeseburger with bacon (he doesn’t like the secret Galley Boy sauce like his dad does). Bronny only hid the meal from cameras after sternly being told by a Lakers’ staff member that it couldn’t be on the table. His plea that he has “real love for Swensons” wasn’t convincing enough.

You can take the kid out of Akron, but you can’t take Akron out of the kid

The night started with a special tribute for LeBron and Bronny after the first timeout in the first quarter. The video featured clips of Bronny celebrating the 2016 championship with his father which is something the previous annual tributes haven’t.

“It was a pretty cool moment,” LeBron said afterward about the tribute for he and Bronny. “I didn’t really get an opportunity to seize the opportunity because we were getting our ass drubbed at that moment. . . I didn’t get an opportunity to appreciate it, and then when they said his name too, that’s when I kind of looked up. I tapped him on the leg. It was just pretty cool.”

The Cavs got the best of the Lakers this evening. They were the far better team as they notched their fourth double-digit win en route to a perfect 5-0 record. It’s early, but the Cavaliers seem like they could be a contender in a way they’ve only been with LeBron on their team.

Still, it seemed that LeBron wanted to remind everyone post-game that he was the one who ended Cleveland’s 52-year championship drought. Sporting his large 2016 championship ring was his not-so-subtle way of doing that.

LeBron has had so many great moments on Cleveland’s court. This was Bronny’s turn to create his own and he did.

“We’re a part of this community,” LeBron said. “A lot of great memories on the court, a lot of great memories off the court as well in this community. So to have the mutual respect and love for what we was able to accomplish in the years that we were here is definitely very humbling. We don’t take it for granted.”