Last Tuesday night, history was made in the NBA when LeBron and Bronny James checked in together late in the first half of the season-opener against Minnesota, becoming the first father and son to play in the NBA. To make the moment more special, Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr – the first father and son to share the field in Major League Baseball – were in attendance for the historic moment.

Bronny James played just 3 minutes in his NBA debut, recording two shots, missing both. James hasn’t logged time for the Lakers in the two games since and is bound for the G League in the coming days. But Tuesday night was more about the moment. Head coach JJ Redick assured fans ahead of the opener that the moment would happen, because he didn’t want the wait of impending history hanging over the team. It got me thinking about other instances, including the Griffeys, where fathers and sons suited up together.

Ken Griffey Jr. debuted for the Seattle Mariners during the 1989 season, when his father Ken Sr. was enjoying his second stint with the Cincinnati Reds, whom he played with from 1973-81. After being released by the Reds during the 1990 season, Griffey signed with the Mariners to join his son in the outfield and become the first father-son teammates in MLB history.

During their stint as teammates in Seattle, one humorous moment that stands out is when Ken Griffey Jr. got grounded by his father in the middle of a game. The story goes that, while sharing the outfield, Griffey Sr. settled under a fly ball in left field only for Junior to run over and steal the fly ball from his father. Junior jogged off laughing, but Senior didn’t think it was very funny. When he got back to the dugout, he told his 20-year-old son that he was grounded, and even went so far as to take the car keys from him. Even though Junior would go down as one of the greatest players of all-time (and my personal favorite), Griffey Sr. was no slouch. In a career that spans 18 years, Griffey sported a .296 career average with 2,143 hits, 152 homers and 859 RBIs. He was also a 3-time All-Star, 2-time World Series champion (both as part of the “Big Red Machine” in the 1970s), and a member of the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame. Griffey Jr. may have greatly inspired me as a kid, but it was Griffey Sr. who inspired him. Junior’s iconic backwards hat look can even be traced back to his father’s time in the Majors. Griffey once said that he grew up wearing his hats backwards because he had a smaller head, and when he’d go to the ballpark with his dad as a kid, he’d steal his dad’s hat, and the only way he could wear it without it falling off was to wear it backwards. And thus, “The Kid” was born.

The NHL can also claim the honor of having a father and son suit up together, though it only happened once. In 1979, following the NHL’s merger with the World Hockey Association, NHL legend Gordie Howe – who was 52 years old at the time, took the ice with TWO of his sons, Mark and Matry, making history in the NHL, despite already playing together for six seasons in the WHA.

Gordie Howe is viewed by many as one of the top 3 players to ever take the ice, even earning the nickname Mr. Hockey, but his sons were great in their own right. Mark enjoyed an 18-year professional career, set multiple records, and was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of fame in 2010 and the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011. Marty Howe played for 12 years and was inducted into the World Hockey Association Hall of Fame in 2010 as a member of “The Howe Family.”

With all this talk of fathers and sons, it’s good to remember some examples of siblings who played together as well. From the Molina brothers in Anaheim, the Upton brothers in Atlanta, the Morris twins in multiple stops in the NBA, the McCourty twins in New England and two-thirds of the Watt brothers in Pittsburgh, just to name a few. After all, sports are a family business. On the note of a family business, I’d be remised to also mention cousins Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady teaming up with the Raptors, and well as cousins Nolan Arenado and Josh Fuentas on the Colorado Rockies

Whatever form it takes, family playing together in a professional sports setting is incredibly special and rare, and fathers staying healthy and able long enough to play alongside their sons is a truly unique feat.

It’s not something that many athletes even consider possible. Take Tom Brady for example. Brady played football at the highest level for 22 years, which is the longest career in NFL history for a non-special teams’ player, and Brady’s oldest son Jack is currently 17 years old. The timing truly has to be just right.

The truly special part about the James duo is that LeBron James has been the face of the NBA since he was 18 years old. Every move he’s made has been placed under a microscope, securitized and dissected. He’s weathered all of it and kept himself in immaculate shape for 22 seasons, becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. As much of a hard time as I’ve given LeBron over the years on Empire Sports Talk, I’ve always admired him for the fact that throughout his career, he remained consistent about two goals that he had: wanting to bring a championship to Cleveland, and once he realized it was a legitimate possibility, wanting to play alongside his son. I rooted for James in 2016 as his hometown team to their first title, and on Tuesday night, James was able to check off the second of those two boxes.

Regardless of how you feel about LeBron James or Bronny’s place on the Lakers, it’s hard not to view that single, isolated moment as anything other than extremely special. Certain things are bigger than personal feelings or rooting interests. It’s why we love sports. It remains to be seen how much time Bronny will spend on the NBA roster, but wherever he goes from here, the moment of taking the court will his father is something he’ll never forget…