Bronny James, recovering from cardiac arrest, heads home from hospital
Three days after LeBron James Jr. collapsed during a basketball practice, a cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles said Thursday that he “has been discharged home where he is resting.” His father, LeBron James, said on social media that his family was “together, safe and healthy.”
And in a sign of the family’s optimism and relief, LeBron was back in the gym Thursday, training with another young basketball player.
The younger James, known as Bronny, who was recruited to join the USC basketball team in the fall, went into cardiac arrest Monday while working out at the university’s Galen Center. He was initially treated in the intensive care unit and had been at Cedars-Sinai since Monday.
The Los Angeles Fire Department on Thursday released a redacted portion of a 911 call made Monday morning from the Galen Center.
In the conversation, an unknown person urgently asked for medical assistance.
“Listen, listen, listen, listen,” the caller said. “Get an ambulance here now.”
A dispatcher asked the caller if there was a doctor or registered nurse on scene, but the caller said there was no doctor on site.
“Help is already on the way,” the dispatcher said. “We are already on the way, sir. Fire department, paramedics are already on the way.”
Bronny was treated by USC medical staff and then taken to Cedars-Sinai.
LeBron James’ workout with a young prospect was scheduled for Wednesday, but was postponed after 18-year-old Bronny collapsed during a workout.
The young star LeBron James worked with on Thursday was AJ Dybantsa, the highly touted 16-year-old from Brockton, Massachusetts, who was in Los Angeles with his father to meet with agents, including representatives from James’ agency, Klutch Sports.
“I felt for the guy,” Ace Dybantsa, AJ’s father and a Boston University police officer, said by phone about LeBron James after his son’s hours-long workout Thursday. “After what he went through, he showed up, put on a good face and worked with the kid. I had chills, man.”
For AJ Dybantsa, a 7-foot-2 forward who transferred from St. Sebastian’s in Needham, Massachusetts, to Prolific Prep in Napa Valley, California, the workout was the latest in a series featuring NBA superstars.
When asked what it meant that James showed up after what happened with Bronny, AJ Dybantsa said, “He cares.”
He continued: “I didn’t know what would happen to his son, but even though it cost him an extra day, he still showed up and trained.”
Bronny James and his family also received well wishes from Ohio State Coach Chris Holtmann. In September 2022, during Bronny’s senior year at Sierra Canyon School in Los Angeles, Bronny and his father visited Ohio State for a football game against Notre Dame. The fans chanted, “We want Bronny.”
Ohio State was the school that Ohio native LeBron said he probably would have attended if he had gone to college, instead of jumping straight to the NBA as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 draft .
Holtmann said he and his team were genuinely interested in bringing Bronny on board.
“It was a situation where we were very open to making sure it fit what they were looking for and vice versa,” Holtmann said by phone Wednesday. “We knew it was going to be an experience where he might not be in college for very long, so you want that experience to be great.”
Bronny James would be eligible for the NBA Draft after his freshman year; There is speculation that he will make the transition to the NBA in 2024, when LeBron turns 40.
As a senior at Sierra Canyon, Bronny averaged 14 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.8 steals. He was named to the McDonald’s All-American game in March, where he scored 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the perimeter, while adding 4 assists and 2 steals.
The USC men’s basketball team will leave for a 10-day tour of Greece and Croatia on August 5, but it is unclear whether the team will actually travel or if Bronny will be joining them.
Jesus Jimenez reporting contributed.
