Ken Griffey Jr. on the advice he gave Bronny James

There have been only a handful of father-son duos who have ever played in the same pro sports league. It is even more rare to see a father-son duo play on the same team at the same time.

LeBron James and his son, Bronny, did just that on opening night of the 2024-25 season in the NBA. Decades ago, baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. took the diamond with his father when both were members of the Seattle Mariners.

Griffey and his father were in the crowd at Crypto.com Arena on that night last October when both members of the James clan checked into the game at the same time. During an appearance on "Nightcap" with former NFL stars Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson, the 10-time Gold Glove winner revealed the advice he gave the younger James while reflecting on what he learned from his father.

“I did tell Bronny to just relax, enjoy it, be you. You are not gonna be him. Nobody is him. When I got there, my dad told me that this is your team, I am just here. And he was dad at the house and teammate at the ballpark. But like I said, there were times that I rode home with Mom. It was much safer… You’re gonna learn a lot by being able to sit there and be on the bench watching him. People say he needs to be in the G League and he needs this and that. I’ll tell you what, I learned more sitting there watching my dad than anything.”

The younger James did little of note in 27 regular-season games with the Lakers. But in the G League, he showed plenty of promise and averaged 21.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.9 steals a game. He then followed that up with a solid showing in the Las Vegas summer league two months ago.

He admitted how nervous he was for his first NBA game, but Lakers assistant coach Nate McMillan said that the guard was a lot more relaxed during summer league play in July, which allowed him to shoot the basketball better.

It remains to be seen if the younger James will get any real playing time this season, as some seem to expect him to.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Ken Griffey Jr. on the advice he gave Bronny James