Bronny James has a lot of work to do if he’ll ever come near matching the scoring records of his legendary father LeBron James, but he now has more points in college than his dad ever did.
While his dad – whom it should be noted went straight from high school to the NBA – watched from the stands, Bronny James returned to the court for a game for the first time since suffering cardiac arrest this summer and being diagnosed with a congenital heart defect.
In his first-ever college game, the younger James made one 3-pointer, one free throw, had three rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block in 17 minutes as the University of Southern California lost to Long Beach State 84-79 in overtime.
One of those steals came with 26 seconds left in regulation and the Trojans leading by one point. James then made one of two free throws but Marcus Tsohonis of Long Beach State made a tying jumpshot with three seconds in regulation. In July, the 18-year-old James, a freshman who was an All-American as a high school player, suffered a cardiac arrest during a basketball practice at the University of Southern California and was hospitalized. He was discharged a few days later to recover at home.
Doctors determined the “probable cause” of the cardiac arrest was “an anatomically and functionally significant Congenital Heart Defect which can and will be treated,” the family said in a statement.
In late November, Bronny was cleared by his doctors to play basketball again.
LeBron James lifted both the NBA Cup and the MVP award for the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament (IST) as the Los Angeles Lakers held off the upstart Indiana Pacers, 123-109, in Las Vegas on Saturday.
LeBron now has 39,201 points, the most ever in the NBA, but when it comes to college, it’s 4-0 for Bronny.