LeBron James and his wife Savannah opened up son Bronny James’ cardiac arrest scare while at USC in July 2023.
The James family had not commented much publicly about situation, which occurred ahead of Bronny’s freshman season with the Trojans, but peel back the curtain on their emotions and gratitude for his recovery for Netflix’s “Starting 5” docuseries.
“It was just about us supporting each other and just being super grateful for the outcome,” Savannah says in a clip shared to social media.
James offered up thanks to God and everyone else involved at USC in helping his eldest son recover.
“Shoutout to the man above,” James said in the docuseries. “To the whole coaching staff, training staff, members of that program.”
The video shows LeBron introducing Erin, a medical professional to his mother, Gloria James, saying that Erin performed CPR on Bronny when he went down during an offseason USC training session.
“They are the reason Bronny is alive now and smiling and thriving and doing what any 19-year old should be doing and that’s living out their dream,” LeBron said of the training staff who helped Bronny in the immediate aftermath of his scare.
“It’s crazy with kids, like when they love something and want something that’s all that matters to them,” LeBron continued. “As a parent, you’re like, you know, ‘You had a cardiac arrest.’ And like in his mind he’s like ‘Can I or can I not play ball again? And if the answer is yes, ‘when can I play ball again?’ I love that.”
Bronny, whose one season at USC was stunted, perhaps partly due to his cardiac arrest, entered the 2024 NBA Draft and was selected in the second round by the Lakers.
First-year Lakers coach JJ Redick has repeatedly said Bronny was not drafted just because his father is an all-time great player and currently on the roster — despite reports the family’s camp attempted to steer him to the franchise.
“Bronny has earned this. Bronny talks about his hard work. Bronny has earned this through hard, hard work,” Redick said at James’ introductory press conference. “For us, prioritizing player development, we view Bronny as Case Study 1, because his base level of feel, athleticism, point of attack defender, shooting, passing. There’s a lot to like about his game and we sort of build out our player development program holistically, he’s going to have a great opportunity to become an excellent NBA player.”
The Lakers open the season against the Timberwolves on Oct. 22 at Crypto.com Arena.