LeBron James says son Bronny could return to the court soon if he has all-clear later this month
By Sam Joseph, CNN
(CNN) — Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has revealed that his son, Bronny, isn’t “too long away” from being back on the court if he passes a medical assessment at the end of this month.
During a basketball practice in July, Bronny suffered a cardiac arrest and was hospitalized following the incident.
After he was discharged from hospital, the James family released a statement about Bronny’s condition, saying that doctors had determined “an anatomically and functionally significant Congenital Heart Defect” as the “probable cause” of the cardiac arrest and they were “very confident” in their son making a full recovery.
“We have a big moment at the end of this month to see if we can continue to go forward,” LeBron told reporters after the Lakers’ 108-107 road defeat against the Miami Heat.
“If he’s cleared, we’ll be not too long away from him being back on the floor and back with his teammates and practicing, with the notion of being back on the floor and playing in game situations.”
The younger James committed to the University of Southern California (USC) in May as a consensus four-star recruit and has been touted by some as a first-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
He missed the USC Trojans’ pre-season tour in August, and while no return date has been officially confirmed his father said that “everything is going in the right direction” with his son’s progress.
“Everything is on the up and up, we’re proud of his progress, we’re proud of his strength,” he added.
“Between all the doctors that he’s seeing from everywhere he’s been … all his [physical therapy] people … they’ve done a hell of a job of getting him to the point today and we want to continue to go forward.”
This follows a previous positive update from ‘the King’ in October, confirming that Bronny had begun his rehabilitation process and was doing “extremely well” after having surgery to treat his condition.
Bronny’s return to the court is highly anticipated, but it has been made clear that his wellbeing is the priority.
“Bronny was playing extremely well before the issue,” USC head coach Andy Enfield told basketball analyst Jeff Goodman in August. “Our top concern is his health. We’re hopeful that he will be on the court at some point this season.”
Despite missing their star guard, the Trojans opened their season with an 82-69 win against the Kansas City Wildcats in a Hall of Fame Series game in Las Vegas on Monday. Bronny, who has been present at team practices, was in attendance and cheered his squad on from the sidelines.
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