Bronny James, the 18-year-old son of LeBron James, reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest during a basketball workout at the University of Southern California on Monday.
The scary episode sent James to the hospital where he was treated in an intensive care unit before he was stabilized and released to general care, a family spokesperson told TMZ on Tuesday.
“Yesterday while practicing Bronny James suffered a cardiac arrest,” the statement said. “Medical staff was able to treat Bronny and take him to the hospital. He is now in stable condition...LeBron and Savannah wish to publicly send their deepest thanks and appreciation to the USC medical and athletic staff for their incredible work and dedication to the safety of their athletes.”
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A source told TMZ a 911 call was made at 9:26 a.m. Monday from USC’s Galen Center, where the basketball team trains. First responders reportedly arrived to find Bronny unconscious, whisking him away in an ambulance.
LeBron James pictured with son Bryce, daughter Zhuri, wife Savannah, and son Bronny at the ESPY Awards in July.
Kevin Mazur/GettyVincent Iwuchukwu, another basketball player at USC, suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed during a practice last summer. He was hospitalized for a few days before being cleared to play again in January. USC has not made a statement about Monday’s incident and didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Bronny, a freshman, was still in high school when Iwuchukwu collapsed. Like his teammate, however, he was a five-star prospect out of high school with expectations of soon being drafted into the NBA.
LeBron has long said that he hopes to stay in the NBA long enough to play alongside his son. The star had not made a personal statement about Bronny as of Tuesday morning.
An outpouring of support for the James family came in from the NBA community and elsewhere. ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith said the freak episode “scares you to death.”
“These are the kind of things that are an anomaly but nevertheless are incredibly possible,” Smith said. “We’ve heard the great LeBron James allude to wanting to play, his dream is to play in the NBA with his son. And all of that gets thrown to the wayside when it comes to something like this.”
Damar Hamlin, who nearly died from a similar freak cardiac arrest during an NFL game in January, tweeted that he was praying for the James family and that he would be there for them “just like you have been for me my entire process.”
Hamlin added that he’s on a “mission” to have defibrillators available at practice facilities nationwide.
However, some others, including Elon Musk, wasted no time in baselessly linking the episode to the COVID vaccine and using the scare as an opportunity to push misinformation. In his only comment about Bronny, Musk didn’t wish him well but instead tweeted, “We cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine, but, by the same token, we cannot ascribe nothing. Myocarditis is a known side-effect. The only question is whether it is rare or common.”
For most scientists and medical experts, it’s not a question. The CDC says cases of myocarditis—the inflammation of the heart muscle—have “rarely been reported” in connection to the vaccine. In the rare cases that have arisen, they have come within “several days” of receiving a shot.
The American Heart Association, citing a “large” study in England, reported last year that cases of myocarditis are “substantially higher” in people who contracted the coronavirus itself than those with the condition as a side effect of the vaccine.
