Brian Windhorst recalls interviewing LeBron before heading to the hospital for the birth of Bronny

In Friday morning’s episode of ESPN’s Get Up, NBA reporter Brian Windhorst shared a touching story about a time in 2004 when LeBron James had to leave training camp to make it to the hospital for the birth of Bronny James. It happened to be the same time Winhorst was interviewing James during training camp, and that was when the latter revealed that he wanted to name Bronny after him.

“I remember talking to him about becoming a father that night. Savannah was literally going to be induced. He was going to the hospital basically from the gym. And he talked about giving Bronny his name. He was going to give him his name because he wanted to have the pressure of delivering as a father . He wanted to be connected with his son because LeBron’s own father was not a part of his life, ” Windhorst said.

A full circle moment

Windhorst also revealed that James, who was 19 at the time, told the reporter that he didn’t want his firstborn to live life without a father figure like he did. That’s one of the biggest reasons why “The King” does everything he can to support and provide for his son, even if it means giving him an automatic spot to compete in the NBA.

It’s fair to debate whether Bronny deserved to be picked 55th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in this year’s draft. But it’s also hard not to sympathize with the James family after what they went through exactly this time last year.

“… You have to realize, regardless of what you think of the father-son thing or the LeBron thing and whatever, 11 months ago, Savannah and LeBron got a phone call that their son’s heart had stopped during a practice . And that is such an emotional moment, and because they were so private about it and because it happened in the offseason or whatever, I don’t think maybe people grasped what that meant,” Windhorst added.

“ For 11 months later, for them to be celebrating him being drafted into the NBA — it doesn’t really matter what you feel about “deserving” or whatever his rating or whether he should be the 55th pick or whatever — that fact, how can you not connect on that level? If you can’t connect on a father-son level, especially for somebody who didn’t have a father growing up and how he wanted to change that, you can at least connect on the level that you almost lost your son less than a year ago and now he’s achieving this . Frankly, anything else beyond that is just filling time when you consider those things in my view,” Windhorst concluded.

The whole nepotism issue

There’s a lot to unpack with the whole Bronny situation and how much of the criticism thrown towards him is how nepotism played a massive part in this. The fact is, Bronny didn’t have the best freshmen year in USC, where he averaged just 4.8 points, 2.8 assists, and 2.6 rebounds per game in 25 games. His college stint significantly affected his ranking in this year’s draft class. If he weren’t LeBron’s son, there’s a good chance he wouldn’t have been selected in this year’s draft.

But at the end of the day, Bronny is LeBron’s son, and they both found a way to get him drafted by the Lakers. Regardless of the whole nepotism issue, all the Lakers did was give the 19-year-old a chance, and it’s up to him to not only prove his worth but also make a name for himself outside of his father’s shadows.

Related: Shaq says the public scrutiny for Bronny James needs to stop: "It's unfortunate for kids like ours, they have to live up to what we have done"