LeBron James in stitches over Ric Flair meme depicting his craze to play with Bronny James on Lakers
When Bronny James was selected 55th by the Lakers in this year's draft, the anticipation for fans to see him play alongside his father, LeBron James, soared. Matching that level of energy, the 20-time NBA All-Star shared a hilarious meme video on his Instagram stories with his and his son's faces placed on wrestling legends Ric Flair and Arn Anderson.
Flair is known to be one of the most energetic wrestlers of all time, from his interviews to how he performs on stage. With the Lakers' selection of Bronny, he and his father are in line to make history together as the first father-and-son tandem playing on the same NBA team.
The edit was shared on Instagram by Franklin Yi (@franklinthomasyi), and LeBron couldn't help but find the whole video hilarious.
Despite Bronny being viewed as a development player, as per Lakers coach JJ Redick, it remains an incredible accomplishment for James to be able to still play long enough to reach the time when his son was about to enter the league.
While his son has made it clear that his goal remains focused on making a name for himself and playing his own brand of basketball, fans are still eagerly anticipating how he performs on the court alongside his father.
LeBron James talked about the outside noise surrounding his son
There has been a lot of chatter surrounding Bronny James, and LeBron James shared an interesting parallel with how the media treated him as a rookie and how his son is being covered, as per ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
"I don't know if people really understand Bronny," James said. "He doesn't care. I actually care a little bit. When I came in (as a rookie), I wanted people to like me, and some of the things that people were saying about me kind of bothered me early on in my career. ... He doesn't give a f***. He does not care about nobody. He doesn't even listen to that stuff."
When he entered the league, LeBron was one of the most exciting prospects coming out of high school. His combination of athleticism, playmaking and shotmaking was unparalleled at the time, considering he was a rookie.
However, that kind of stature at such a young age eventually led to skepticism and criticism from the media. The Lakers forward shared how his mindset then vastly differed from how the four-time NBA champion carries himself at this stage in his career. Long gone are the days when LeBron would overthink the kind of narratives the media would run about him and he only had control of how he played on the court.
It took some time for him to reach a mature approach where outside noise became distractions that weren't worth his time. He highlighted how his son is already at that level of mentality entering the NBA.
All that remains is for him to silence the doubters by leaving everything on the court.