LeBron and Bronny James are set to become the fifth father-son duo in NBA history to play at the same time, same team.
No father and son had ever played together in an NBA game before, but LeBron James made it clear he wanted to share the court with his son, Bronny James. Half of that dream came true when the Los Angeles Lakers picked Bronny as the 55th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
The second half of father’s wish came to life on Sunday when LeBron and Bronny played together during the Lakers’ preseason game against the Phoenix Suns, starting the second quarter. The NBA has often shown that talent tends to run in families. Here are a few other father-son duos who have made history by playing together in American professional sports.
There have been four father-son pairs across the NFL, MLB, and NHL, dating as far back as the 1920s.
To date, Ted and his son Charlie are the only father-son duo to ever play on the same NFL team. They took the field for the Columbus Panhandles on September 25, 1921, against the Akron World’s Champions. The Nesser family had deep roots with the Panhandles—six brothers (John, Paul, Phil, Ted, Frank, and Al) all played for the team during the early 1900s.
Ted, at 38, was a 5-foot-10 center, while his son Charlie, at 19, was a 6-foot-2 tailback. Their one and only game together was also their last in professional football. The Panhandles folded the following year, later re-emerging as the Columbus Tigers, which operated from 1922 to 1926.
Gordie Howe played alongside his sons, Mark and Marty, for the NHL’s Hartford Whalers. However, this wasn’t their first time sharing the ice. Mark and Marty teamed up in the Ontario Hockey League, playing for the Toronto Marlboros in the 1972-73 season. Mark led the team to a Memorial Cup victory, racking up 104 points—38 goals and 66 assists. Gordie later made it a family event when he came out of retirement to join his sons in the 1973 season with the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association. The Hockey Hall of Fame notes, “Mark scored his first professional goal exactly 27 years after his father scored his first NHL goal with the Detroit Red Wings.”
The trio then played for the Hartford Whalers during the 1979-80 season. In his final year, Gordie recorded 15 goals and 26 assists, totaling 41 points. Mark continued with the Whalers for three more seasons before moving on to the Philadelphia Flyers and later the Detroit Red Wings. Marty remained with the Whalers for the last five years of his professional career.
Ken Griffey Sr., already a three-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, joined the Mariners in 1990. That same year, his son, Ken Griffey Jr., was in his second major league season, having already made waves by earning MVP honors in his debut All-Star Game.
The father-son pair played together, and in that season, Junior scored 91 runs, hit 22 homers, and maintained a batting average of .300 with an OPS of .847. Even at age 40, Ken Griffey Sr. kept up, hitting .377 with 13 runs and three homers in his 17th season. They also became the first father-son duo to hit back-to-back homers in the same game on September 14, 1990, against the California Angels.
The Raines family made history in 2001 when Hall-of-Famer Tim Raines Sr. teamed up with his son, Tim Raines Jr., on the Baltimore Orioles. Tim Sr., nearing the end of his career, joined the team on October 3 after being traded from the Montreal Expos.
The very next day, they shared the field for the first time, with Tim Sr. playing left field and his son in center. They had faced off against each other earlier that year during Triple-A rehab assignments—Tim Sr. with the Ottawa Lynx and Tim Jr. with the Rochester Red Wings.
While not father and son, Paul Elvstrøm and his daughter Trine competed together. They won the 1983/4 European Tornado Championships, placed fourth in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
They also finished 15th in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Picture Credit: © Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
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