Lakers vs. Timberwolves score: LeBron, Bronny James make history, but Anthony Davis steals show in opener

The Lakers took down the Wolves in their season opener on Tuesday night

By Brad Botkin

Oct 23, 2024 at 2:07 am ET • 1 min read

The Los Angeles Lakers opened the 2024-25 season in high style, taking down the last year's Western Conference semifinalist Minnesota Timberwolves, 110-103, on Tuesday night.

Before we get to anything else, yes, we got our LeBron James-Bronny James moment. With four minutes to play in the second quarter, the James duo checked into the game together to become the first father and son to play together in the NBA.

LeBron James.
Bronny James.

The first father-son duo to play together in the NBA! pic.twitter.com/naadFLoPmh
— NBA (@NBA) October 23, 2024

"It's one of the greatest gifts I've ever got from the man above and I'm gonna take full advantage of it," LeBron, who scored 16 points on 15 shots, said of playing with his son.

Bronny wound up playing two minutes and 31 seconds. He missed two shots, including a catch-and-shoot 3 that would've been pretty cool to hit since it was LeBron who fed him. Later, Bronny showed some legit defensive chops in staying front of Anthony Edwards one-on-one, holding up physically, and forcing him into a contested missed jumper. And that was about it.

Now, onto the actual game ...

Anthony Davis was a beast

Davis scored 36 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, and added four assists and three blocks. He shot 11 of 23 from the field and converted 13 of his 15 free throws. He was all over the place, on both ends, in 38 relentless minutes.

Davis has been vocal that he believes he should have won Defensive Player of the Year last season, an award that went to Rudy Gobert for the fourth time. This Davis block on Gobert was a message:

Anthony Davis comes up with a HUGE block on Rudy Gobert 🚫

🎥 @NBA pic.twitter.com/eGXvf4l0qe
— The Athletic NBA (@TheAthleticNBA) October 23, 2024

If Davis plays like this all season and stays healthy, and LeBron James does the same, the Lakers are going to be a problem. But that just doesn't seem likely. Davis has to do so much for this team, and after playing in 76 games last year, it's hard not to see him breaking down.

That's pessimistic, for sure. Hopefully Davis will buck the odds and author a second straight incredibly durable season. Again, if he does, he's going to be in the running for Defensive Player of the Year and certainly All-NBA, if not MVP if the Lakers manage to get up into the top six. He is absolutely dominant, as we all saw once again on Tuesday.

Lakers 3-point emphasis on display

In the end, the Lakers only wound up taking 30 3-pointers, which is actually one fewer than their per-game average last year. If you just look at the box score, first-year coach JJ Redick's noted emphasis on having the Lakers ramp up their 3-point aggression didn't play out in the opener.

But if you watched the game, it actually did. The Lakers were very clearly hunting 3-point shots with greater aggression than they did last season. At one point in the second quarter they were on pace to shoot about 40 of them. Anthony Davis got up three himself.

In the end, the Lakers were just too dominant in the paint, where they outscored the Wolves 72-40, to keep firing up 3s when they weren't making them. As a team, they made just five of their 30 3-pointers (16%). If they had been going in, it's safe to say they would've gotten close to 40 attempts. Redick's prints were all over this opener.

New-look Wolves were lifeless

Minnesota just didn't have it on Tuesday. A team that made its hay last season with relentless defensive pressure was not into the ball and got absolutely dominated in the paint. Rudy Gobert, who signed an extension on Tuesday to the tune of three years and $110 million, was not a real factor, and again, the Timberwolves' perimeter defenders weren't putting any kind of consistent squeeze on L.A.'s handlers.

Offensively, the Wolves were a mess. This Julius Randle situation might get bad; the spacing when he was out there was pretty cramped. Randle, in his first game with his new team, tried to bully his way into some ugly, forced shots while winding up with 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting. He wasn't nearly as effective as even that line would suggest.

Anthony Edwards was the only guy who did anything offensively, finishing with 27 points and creating some good looks for his teammates when he was doubled. But he needed 25 shots to get those 27 points. It's an honest issue that this team lost Karl-Anthony Towns if nobody outside of Edwards is going to be a scorer the defense cares about.

Donte DiVincenzo can be, and needs to be, a major weapon, but he only managed 10 points on 11 shots on Tuesday. If Edwards isn't efficient and nobody else really scores, and the defense isn't there, the Wolves are not going to win many games. That said, this was one game. Let's give it some time, obviously.

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Final Score: Lakers 110, Wolves 103

Anthony Davis: 36 points, 16 rebounds, 3 blocks
Anthony Edwards: 27 points, 6 rebounds

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3Q SCORE: Lakers 82, Wolves 74

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LeBron makes miss history

When an awkward attempt at a transition layup went awry halfway through the third quarter, LeBron James passed Kobe Bryant for the most missed field goals in NBA history with 14,882. This is not a mark on LBJ's resume, to be clear. It's in fact an achievement. You have no chance of missing this many shots if you don't one, play for a hell of a long time, and two, be great enough to warrant that many attempts year after year.

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1H score: Lakers 55, Wolves 42

Anthony Davis: 12 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
LeBron James: 8 points, 3 rebounds
Anthony Edwards: 14 points, 3 rebounds

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Bronny gets just over two minutes

Bronny James saw 2:31 of court time late in the second quarter. He missed a 3 on a catch-and-shoot of a pass from LeBron, and he defended Anthony Edwards well one-on-one in forcing a missed jumper.

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Bronny and LeBron check in!

At the four-minute mark of the second quarter, LeBron James and his son Bronny checked into the game together. What a moment for the James family.

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Lakers getting up the 3s

JJ Redick wants the Lakers to be more aggressive shooting from beyond the arc this season, and so far they are listening with 14 attempts through the first 16 minutes. That's a pace of 42 3s for the game; last season they took under 32 per game.

Now, if they could only make a few more! So far only three of L.A.'s 3s have gone down.

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LeBron's first dunk of the year

Year 22, and LeBron still can do things like this. A bit of an uneven pace to start this one, but the Lakers lead 11-7 midway through the first quarter.

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Griffeys in the house

Ken Griffey Jr. and Ken Griffey Sr. who famously played together for MLB's Seattle Mariners in 1990 and 1991 -- and once hit back-to-back homers -- are in the house in L.A. tonight. They are ready for father-son history.

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What to know about Bronny's potential debut

Will LeBron James share the court with his son, Bronny James, tonight? If the two Lakers play together, they'll become the first father-son duo to play together in an NBA game. Will it happen tonight? It's not a certainty, but signs are pointing to yes.

When will Bronny James make Lakers debut? What to know as LeBron James prepares to make history with his son

Sam Quinn