EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — When LeBron James Sr. and his son Bronny, make NBA history On Tuesday night, Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. will be there and play in the same game for the Los Angeles Lakers.

The first father-son duo to play together in Major League Baseball plans to attend the Lakers’ season opener at their downtown arena, where the entire crowd is hoping to see the James family accomplish the same rare athletic feat for the NBA .

“The first father and son to play baseball, (and) now the first father and son to play basketball,” the younger Griffey said MLB Network Radio. “It’s a big deal for my dad and I to be there. We made history. Now we can look at the history, that’s going to be the cool thing about it.”

Bronny James is already looking forward to his official NBA debut, but the presence of the Griffeys creates additional excitement for the Lakers’ second-round pick.

“Yeah, it’s going to be crazy,” Bronny, 20, said after practice Monday at the Lakers’ training complex. “I mean, only two families are doing this, so it’s going to be a crazy experience, especially (with) what they’ve done.”

Bronny made it clear he doesn’t know if he’ll actually play against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Lakers coach JJ Redick said “nothing’s finalized yet or anything” about Los Angeles’ player rotation.

Still, it seems unlikely that the Lakers will wait the moment in history they planned since the franchise selected Bronny with the 55th overall pick this summer to play with LeBron, the 39-year-old top scorer in NBA history. The father and the son do played together in the preseasonThey made their first court appearance together outside Palm Springs earlier this month.

Father and son play together in North American professional sports about once a generation. The Griffeys accomplished this feat in 1990 and 1991, when they played 51 games for the Seattle Mariners – and even hit a home run in the same game on September 14, 1990.

Tim Raines and his son of the same name also played four games together for the Baltimore Orioles at the end of the 2001 season. Previously, Gordie Howe, along with his sons Mark and Marty, played in the WHA and NHL as well as for Team Canada in the 1970s.

Having grown up in his father’s locker rooms and arenas in Cleveland, Miami and Los Angeles, Bronny is more than ready to leave the historic moment behind and throw himself into everyday life and become an active NBA player. The Lakers begin the season with three home games in five days.

“I think it will be different,” Bronny said of the opener. “It’s no different than preparing for any other game, but just the feeling of being in our home arena for the first time and playing a game will be a special experience.”…I just try to, everyone Getting better every day and learning from the guys who were here before me. Just take it all in and enjoy the experience.”

Bronny played in all six of the Lakers’ preseason games, but his 4.2 points per game average was boosted significantly by his 17-point performance in the preseason finale last week, in which both the Lakers and Warriors rested most of their key players.

Bronny hit 29.7% of his shots in the preseason while averaging 1.7 rebounds and 0.3 assists and playing 16.2 minutes per game. His defensive work was praised by Redick, who believes the 6-foot-2 guard will develop into a solid perimeter player in the future.

“I had some bad games, some tough starts, so I just kept going and played hard,” Bronny said.

Bronny isn’t expected to be an immediate rotation player for the Lakers, who already have D’Angelo Russell, Gabe Vincent and 2023 first-round pick Jalen Hood-Schifino ahead of them at point guard. There’s a good chance Bronny will start the season with the Lakers before heading to the G League to get the consistent playing time he likely needs to improve.

But he’s still thrilled to have reached this milestone — and he’s even pretty sure what he’ll call his father on the court after LeBron banned him from using “Dad.”

“Probably Bron,” Bronny said with a smile. “That will probably be the easiest one.”

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