The baseball icon previously told PEOPLE he and his father, Ken Griffey Sr., would be courtside for the moment
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Ken Griffey Jr. is making good on his pledge to support LeBron and Bronny James!
The retired Hall of Fame slugger plans to be in attendance on opening night of the NBA season on Tuesday, Oct. 22 when the Los Angeles Lakers play the Minnesota Timberwolves — and he’ll be bringing a special guest.
“I’m actually going to go to the game and I’m going to take my dad,” Griffey Jr., 54, said on The Road to Cooperstown podcast about his father, Ken Griffey Sr. “First father and son to play baseball, now first father and son to play basketball, so it’s a big deal for my dad and I to be there. We made history, now we get to watch history.”
When Bronny joins his 39-year-old superstar father on the court, it will officially mark the first time a father and son have played together in an NBA game.
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Lakers head coach JJ Redick did not offer a preview of his planned rotation, but did tell reporters previously that he would consult with the father and son about their preferred timeline, ESPN reported.
The Griffeys set the standard more than 30 years ago, when they became teammates on the Seattle Mariners in 1990.
For Ken Griffey Jr. — who ranks seventh all-time on the MLB home run list — watching another father and son duo do it again in pro sports is something that’s been on his radar for awhile, he told PEOPLE in May 2023.
“We’ll be sitting in the first row,” Ken Griffey Jr. told PEOPLE exclusively. “No matter what, this is something that I look forward to. I know LeBron does.”
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Junior also pointed out at the time just how slim the chances are of a parent-child duo in sports.
“I mean, you know, there’s quite a few things that have to happen,” he told PEOPLE. “One is having a child early, right? Two, having your child be really good at an early age. And three, being able to hang around and be productive. I mean, two of those things are out of your control. Two of those things are dependent on your dad. So you look at LeBron being really early in the NBA and having 20 years of longevity, and [it] doesn’t look like he’s slowing down.”
Bronny, 20, has another way of describing the epic accomplishment when talking to reporters this week, ESPN reported.
“It’s going to be insane,” he said, and then lauded the Griffeys. “Only two families to do it, so it’s going to be a crazy experience, especially with what they’ve done.”
