Bronny James, the eldest son of Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, went into cardiac arrest earlier this year while playing basketball. A true freshman student-athlete at USC, James received an outpouring of support in the aftermath of the incident, and his father eventually announced that he was doing well while he was on the road to recovery.
It’s been a few weeks since LeBron gave that update, and on Friday evening, we got a bit of good news regarding his ability to play basketball going forward. In a statement from a family spokesperson, the cause of the incident was announced, along with the fact that Broony is expected to be able to return to the court “in the very near future.”
After a comprehensive initial evaluation at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center led by Dr. Merije Chukumerije and follow-up evaluations at the Mayo Clinic led by Dr. Michael J. Ackerman and Atlantic Health/Morristown Medical Center led by Dr. Matthew W. Martinez, the probable cause of Mr. James’ sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) has been identified. It is an anatomically and functionally significant Congenital Heart Defect which can and will be treated.
We are very confident in Bronny’s full recovery and return to basketball in the very near future. We will continue to provide updates to media and respectfully reiterate the family’s request for privacy.
Obviously, the most important thing here is that Bronny will be able to recover from this, but it’s great to hear that he’ll be able to resume his basketball career sometime down the road. The former 4-star recruit is projected to be a first-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.