LeBron James is feeling 'pure joy' as he begins Lakers training camp alongside son Bronny

 LeBron James is beginning his 22nd training camp this week with Los Angeles Lakers, and this one will be a unique experience.

NBA 's career scoring leer is sharing a locker room and a court with Bronny James, his 19-year-old son and Lakers’ second-round draft pick . y'll soon become first far and son in NBA history to play toger, fulfilling an aspiration first expressed by LeBron several years ago.

20-time All-Star didn't downplay his excitement Monday to see one of his few remaining basketball dreams coming true.

“re’s a lot of excitement,” LeBron said. “It’s pure joy, to be honest, to be able to come to work every day, put in hard work with your son every day and be able to see him continue to grow. We push each or. He pushes me, I push him. We push our teammates. Just a very joyous moment, not only for myself, but for our family.”

Far and son wore Lakers' gold uniforms toger at team's media day, posing for innumerable photos and giving interviews that showcased easy banter of family. Bronny's new No. 9 jersey res “JAMES JR.” on back, in a nod to his full name, LeBron James Jr.

ir partnership is a dream for 39-year-old LeBron, but it's been largely surreal for Bronny, who turns 20 on Sunday. After growing up and excelling at basketball in his famous far's show, Bronny is balancing excitement of reaching NBA with task of justment to unprecedented challenge of being in same uniform as his devoted far.

“I think I’m most looking forward to practice, just going he to he with each or,” Bronny said. “That’s such a crazy feeling, to be in practice with your d and competing at a high level. But on or side of that, having to go against LeBron James is kind of a lot in practice every day. But yeah, I'm looking forward to it as well.”

y might be working toger, but every day will not be Take-Your-Son-to-Work Day for LeBron: Bronny says he is “definitely not” driving from ir home to Lakers practices with his far.

“It’s alrey so much that we’ve been grouped toger as,” Bronny said with a big grin. “I’d like to stay as (far) away as possible from that guy.”

LeBron gets it, he said with a grimace.

“To be honest, if you have kids, I mean, at my age and his age, re’s not really much interaction going on on a day-to-day basis,” LeBron said. “He comes down, he eats, he goes to his room, plays a video game. If I’m down re with my wife watching a movie, he’ll stop in. So it’s not much, like, ‘Meet me at table at 5 o’clock. We need to discuss work tomorrow.’ That doesn’t happen."

LeBron affirmed his offseason declaration on his YouTube talk show that Bronny isn’t allowed to call him “D” at work. Bronny isn’t so sure, although he mits he’ll try to say “Bron.”

“Whatever comes out of my mouth when I’m trying to speak to him is what he’s going to accept,” Bronny said with a grin. “Doesn’t really mean much. I haven’t really dressed him in any way yet, so we’ll see how it goes.”

New Lakers coach JJ Redick said last week that he'll make a plan with family for ir historic appearance toger early in regular season. It's also assumed that Bronny will spend much of upcoming season with South Bay Lakers of G League, improving his skills after he played sparingly in his only college season at Sourn California.

“If we get a couple of opportunities on floor throughout course of season, obviously that’s going to be amazing,” LeBron said. “It will be awesome. We’ll wait for that moment when it happens, and n go from re.”

LeBron has been a 6-foot-9 physical force of nature during his NBA career, and he has realistic goals for his 6-foot-2 son.

“Seeing him continue to grow as a basketball player, no matter if it’s here with us or if it’s down with G League team, and him continuing to get better and better,” LeBron said. “We want to hold him accountable. He’s going to hold us accountable, and if we all do that, we’ll all get better, because we’re all one team. We are a reflection of South Bay. South Bay is a reflection of us. ... We’ll continue to grow, stacking days. I know he’s going to do that, because that’s just what he’s about.”

rest of Lakers h only positive thoughts about arrival of ir superstar teammate's son. Anthony Davis takes his own measure of pride in Bronny's arrival after watching his growth over past half-dece from a teenager to an NBA prospect.

“It’s awesome. It’s historic. It’s powerful,” Davis said. “Bronny’s locker is across from mine, so every time I walk in and see it, it’s still surreal for me that he’s on same team as his d. I can’t wait until y step on floor and officially make history, but it’s been super-dope to watch so far.”