Four months after he suffered a cardiac arrest while practicing, Bronny James has been cleared to make a full return to basketball, a James family spokesperson said Thursday, announcing a plan for the USC freshman to begin practicing as soon as next week.
“Bronny will have a final evaluation with USC staff this week, resume practice next week and return to games soon after,” the James family spokesperson said.
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Bronny, the son of Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, collapsed during a practice in July and spent three days at a hospital. Doctors later determined that a congenital heart defect was the probable cause of the 19-year-old guard’s sudden collapse, and expressed confidence he would fully recover.
Ultimately, the only thing that matters in any of this is that recovery itself. That a 19-year-old, after the frightening experience of having his heart stop pumping blood, is healthy enough and has a strong enough heart to play the game that he loves.
If only it were that simple. It is not, because Bronny James is no ordinary teenager. He is the Son of LeBron, already destined, at least by his own dad’s hopes and dreams, to one day very soon partner with Pops in the ultimate father and son’s NBA business.
Which means now we leave the waiting game and move on to the circus. First comes the Bronny Watch — a parsing of the Trojans’ schedule to see when he might be able to play. The Trojans are at No. 11 Gonzaga on Saturday and have just one home game — against Long Beach State on December 10 — left in the calendar year. They have road trips to the states of Alabama and Oregon before returning home on Jan. 3 against Cal.
LeBron James told members of the media if Bronny makes his USC debut on the night of a Lakers game, he will skip that to be with his son. He informed his teammates on the flight to Oklahoma City, where the Lakers lost to the Thunder on Thursday.
“Family over everything,” James said.
After that, of course, comes the inevitable Bronny Breakdown. How will he look? Can he play? Does he meet expectations, as impossible as they are?
James’ arrival in college basketball was always going to be an inflection point. Long before he committed to USC, plenty questioned whether he was good enough to merit the attention he was receiving. But a strong senior season (he averaged 14 points and five boards at powerhouse Sierra Canyon) catapulted him to 22nd in the 247Sports Composite rankings, erasing any lingering questions about whether his surname meant he did not deserve his own hype.
Bronny James will return to practice next week and games soon after, according to a family spokesperson. (Photo: Alex Bierens de Haan / Getty Images)Along with USC, he visited Ohio State, Oregon, and considered the G-League Ignite and Overtime Elite leagues before opting to stay close to home and sign with the Trojans.
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Yet by opting for Andy Enfield’s team, the combo guard joined a squad that already had a solid backcourt, courtesy of Isaiah Collier, the consensus No. 1 freshman in the nation, and Boogie Ellis, the Trojans’ top returning scorer. People naturally wondered just how James might fit in.
All of that speculation, however, came to a screeching halt on July 24, when James collapsed during a summer workout. The James family announced that Bronny had been rushed to Cedars Sinai Hospital. He underwent a procedure to treat the congenital heart defect, and questions immediately shifted from how well he could play, to whether he would ever be able to play again.
LeBron James provided an update on his son’s progress in October, saying that Bronny had “begun his rehab process to get back on the floor this season with his teammates at USC.” A month later, on Nov. 19, he warmed up for the first time with his teammates before a game against Brown, sparking speculation of his imminent return.
Now it is Bronny time.
He joins a USC team that, like much of college basketball in the month of November, is a work in progress. Picked to finish second in the Pac-12, the Trojans are 5-2, with losses to UC Irvine and Oklahoma.
(Photo: Brian Rothmuller / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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