Black Boy Joy: LeBron James, Bronny And Quincy Olivaro Open New NBA Season With Magical Moments
Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James (9) and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) leave the court after a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the home opener at Crypto.com Arena on October 22, 2024, in Los Angeles, California. | Source: Gina Ferazzi / Getty
The Los Angeles Lakers, not the New York Knicks, started the 2024-25 NBA season with a win and a whole lot of Black Boy Joy.
Sorry. My petty made me include that dig at the New York Knicks, but it’s only because my editor, Bruce C.T. Wright, is a die-hard Knicks fan, and when I told him I wanted to write an NBA story, he asked me if I could fit the Knicks in there somewhere, so now, not only have I typed the word Knicks five times in the span of two paragraphs, but I managed to take my swipe at them at the same time.
I win.
The Knicks, however, did not win, but at least the New York Liberty did?
Oh, and Jonquel Jones was named WNBA Finals MVP, so like I said, some good basketball news came out of the city of New York; it just had absolutely nothing to do with the Knicks.
Let me pause for a moment to take a swipe at TNT, which I usually have nothing against, but the constant “Video Unavailable” message that was splashing across screens nationwide throughout the Lakers-Timberwolves match was more than a little annoying.
The Lakers were playing their season-opening game at home on national television, and two of the members of the team – LeBron James and LeBron “Bronny” James Jr. – were making history, and y’all couldn’t keep the video feed together.
No wonder the NBA is getting rid of y’all. How dreadful.
Regardless of TNT’s technical issues, LeBron James and LeBron “Bronny” James Jr. did in fact make basketball history last night by becoming the first father and son duo to play together in an NBA game.
Bronny, who was the 55th pick in the NBA draft, struggled for much of the preseason before having a breakout game in the Lakers’ final preseason game Friday night. The 20-year-old son of one of the greatest NBA players of all time played 35 minutes in that game and scored 17 points, with 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 block.
He understands he is the son of a legend, and he knows that everyone is watching him, and the loudest voices in his head are going to be the ones who don’t think he has what it takes to be a success in the league.
Bronny may not ever be the legend his father is, but I think with time, practice, and a level of honing his craft that both his father and Kobe Bryant have modeled for him, he could still be a contender.
He just has to learn to silence the critic’s voice in his head, and judging by his responses in Friday’s post-game interviews, he seems well aware of that.
(@kingjames)“It just a great feeling to go out there and not think as much as I do and just play,” Bronny told reporters after Friday’s game.
His father watched from the sidelines as he played in that game, but last night, father and son suited up together for the Lakers’ season opener at home in Staples Center (yes, they renamed it Crypto.com Arena, but I’m not ever calling it that).
This is a dream for LeBron too, as he has repeatedly said. As a father, he wants to create a legacy for his children, and being able to guide and help develop his oldest son as a basketball player while playing right beside him and essentially giving him the on-the-job training he needs is magical.
LeBron got what he wanted too.
Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr., the first father and son duo to play on the same Major League Baseball team together and the first father and son duo to hit back-to-back homeruns in a baseball game together, were in the building to see LeBron and Bronny play together in the season opener.
The Griffeys and Jameses took photos together before the game started.
Can we take a moment to point out how the two father-son duos holding records in both Major League Baseball and the NBA are Black?
Do you see those smiles? Do you see all that Black boy joy? Do you see the way these families created legacies? Do you see all this Black excellence?
This is going down in history, and Black men made that mark.
You gotta love it.
And speaking of making a mark, Quincy Olivari made headlines this past weekend after going from a virtually unknown unsigned rookie to landing a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers after having his own standout game in that Friday preseason finale.
Olivari, 23, started as an undrafted rookie who just wanted a shot in the NBA.
He was originally signed to an Exhibit 10 contract with the Lakers, which meant he had the opportunity to show and prove himself during summer league, training camp, and the preseason, but there were no guarantees for what would happen after that.
As I said on my personal blog, if “shoot your shot” were an actual person, that person would be Quincy Olivari.
Quincy Olivari is a perfect example of what happens when you know you only have one shot and you take that one shot and give it your all.
On Friday night, he got his first professional start as an NBA player in the Lakers’ final preseason game against the Warriors and put up 22 points – the most points scored by any single player during that game on both teams, and he accounted for 30% of the Lakers points in their 74-132 loss to Golden State.
It wasn’t just Quincy’s performance Friday night that stood out.
It was his enthusiasm about getting his shot. It was his excitement over getting the chance to play basketball in front of his idol, Steph Curry. It was his passion for the game and doing a good job for the team – even when it was “just a preseason game.”
It was his humble, emotional and absolutely tear-jerking post-game interview.
When Quincy Olivari gave that interview, he had no idea what was going to happen next for him. As a player on an Exhibit 10 contract, his only option would have been to play out the rest of the season with the South Bay Lakers, L.A.’s G League team.
None of that uncertainty mattered to Quincy Olivari. He was just happy to be in the building. He was happy to get yet another autograph from Steph Curry. He was happy to have had a chance to wear the purple and gold and play for the legendary Los Angeles Lakers, a team that has become synonymous with the phrase “World Champion.”
(The Lakers are synonymous with the phrase “World Champion” the way the Knicks are synonymous with “Damn. Y’all lost again?”)
“I just want a job in the NBA,” Olivari said. “I don’t know what’s next.”
On Saturday, the Lakers signed Quincy Olivari to a two-way contract worth $1.157 million. The contract allows him to play for the Lakers G League team and provides the opportunity for him to play in up to 50 of the Lakers’ 82 regular season games.
Olivari’s pay is limited to the fact that he has been signed under a two-way contract. The terms of this agreement divide the player’s time between the regular season and the G-League, limiting the number of games the athlete can play with the main league. As a result, his salary is just half of the minimum limit set for a normal rookie contract. Despite this, the 23-year-old Lakers player is set to earn more than KJ Simpson and Ulrich Chomche, who were taken in as the 42 and the 57 overall pick, respectively. Not bad for someone who missed out on being amongst the original 58 picks during the 2024 NBA Draft.
Olivari told Lakers Nation that he had just left the Lakers training facility and was hanging out with Lakers center Jaxson Hayes when he got a text from South Bay Laker general manager Nick Mazzella asking him to come back to the training facility.
“As I was pulling up, my agent called me and anytime he calls, I got to pick up,” Olivari said. “Recently, anytime he calls, it’s good. So I pick it up and he was just like yeah, they’re about to call me back to the facility. Before he said anything, I just said could we add my mom to the call and he called her and I called my dad and joined them in. And he just said yeah, the Lakers are about to convert you.”
Olivari said he is excited about the contract, and while he felt in his heart he was going to get a phone call like that – either from the Lakers or from another team – he knows he will have to work even harder if he wants to get a permanent NBA contract.
“… I was just excited, I was real happy for myself. But this was one of the things I was grinding for in my journey, but this isn’t something that makes me at all want to relax or take a break or anything. It’s just like OK, like I did it, I’m on the roster. But I want to get something that can set my family up.”
Quincy got shown love from all over the NBA.
Source: X screenshot
Fans and big players like Steph Curry and LeBron James had high praise, congratulations, and nothing but good things to say about the young man who saw an opportunity, made the most of it, and is now on a path toward greater success.
We love a good Cinderella or Cinderfella story, and Quincy Olivari is just that.
I love writing things like this because it gives us a chance to smile, feel the excitement, and remember the power and resilience we have as Black people.
LeBron, Bronny, and Quincy Olivari are living out their best dreams and modeling Black Boy Joy for the world to see.
You gotta love it.
Monique Judge is a storyteller, content creator and writer living in Los Angeles. She is a word nerd who is a fan of the Oxford comma, spends way too much time on Twitter, and has more graphic t-shirts than you. Follow her on Twitter @thejournalista or check her out at moniquejudge.com.
SEE ALSO:
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