LeBron James May Skip Lakers Game For Son Bronny's USC Debut

Four months after suffering a cardiac arrest during basketball practice, Bronny James has been cleared to return to the court with his team.

The James family found out on Thursday that Bronny was officially cleared to resume basketball activities. After a final checkup from USC this week, Bronny will return to team practice and soon play in his college debut game. And while his father, L.A. Lakers star LeBron James, has a busy schedule with his team, he said he will skip his own game to be at his son's first college game if need be.

LeBron told reporters that he's "excited" for Bronny's first game.

"I'm looking forward to his first game. Whenever he's cleared and whenever he's ready to have his first game, I already told my teammates that if they play on the same day we're playing, I'm gonna have to catch the next game," he said. "Family over everything. I definitely gotta see Bronny's first college game whenever he's cleared and ready to go."

According to CBS Sports, USC has only one home game in Los Angeles during the month of December, which means that Bronny's first game could possibly be away. This increases the chance of LeBron needing to miss one of his own games to watch his son's debut game.

USC's home game is scheduled for Dec. 10, with two road games in Alabama next - one against Auburn and one against Alabama State. The Lakers do not have games scheduled the same days as those games, but they do have games scheduled on Dec. 28 and Dec. 30, which is when USC has games in Oregon.

A family spokesperson said in a statement that Bronny, 19, will have one final evaluation with USC staff this week and will resume practicing with his team next week. He will be able to play in games "soon after," the statement said.

"The heart specialists have cleared him, which is great," coach Andy Enfield said after practice on Thursday. "And now it's a matter of getting him back on the court next week hopefully to begin working out with the team full contact."

As far as when Bronny will have his debut game, Enfield said, "That's not my decision and it's probably too early to speculate."

"He's been out of basketball for quite a few months, so we'll be patient with him and once we get the green light we'll get him into games," Enfield added.

According to USA Today, LeBron said his son handled rehab well and didn't have any setbacks.

"We had great doctors along the way the whole time telling us that they believe things will work out for us in our favor, so Bronny took care of his business," LeBron said. "He did everything and didn't have any setbacks. Didn't try to rush the process of his rehab. He took every step accordingly to plan."

Bronny suffered a cardiac arrest in July during a workout at Galen Center with his team. It was later determined that he has a congenital heart defect that was treatable.

"When you go through something like this, it puts everything in perspective and truly understood that nothing else matters besides your loved ones at that moment," LeBron said. "Just stop everything that you're doing and it's literally, 'How do we help him or help your loved one get better?'"

Bronny's teammates are excited to welcome him back to the court.

"We're excited, but we'll be even more excited when he's actually out there with us playing. That's definitely a piece that we're missing," teammate Boogie Ellis said.

Another teammate, Kijani Wright, who also played in high school with Bronny, "We're all ready to have him back. It'll just be another guard component that we have, add more fire."