LeBron James of Team LeBron dunks the ball against Team Durant during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game on February 20, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. Photo: VCG

LeBron James has done it all in the NBA over the last 19 years since joining the league as an 18-year-old.

The four-time NBA champion is a four-time NBA Finals MVP, and a four-time regular-season MVP too. He has also made 18 consecutive All-Star appearances, including last weekend when the Ohio native returned to Cleveland to lead out his own All-Star team.

James led the West against Team Durant, led by Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets, for the East. Team James went on to win the game 163-160, thanks in large part to Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry's 50 points, but it was James who won it with a walk-off basket at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

The Akron, Ohio native spent his formative years in Cleveland with the Cavaliers and there were definitely a large number of Cavs fans who would like to see the return of "King James" before he hangs up his shoes.

"The door's not closed on that," James told The Athletic on the eve of the All-Star Game when asked about a potential return to the city. "I'm not saying I'm coming back and playing, I don't know. I don't know what my future holds. I don't even know when I'm free."

What was more telling was that James made it clear how the Cleveland Cavaliers - or any other NBA franchise, for that matter - could ensure he would sport their uniforms for a last hurrah after he leaves the Los Angeles Lakers.

"My last year will be played with my son," James told The Athletic. "Wherever Bronny is at, that's where I'll be. I would do whatever it takes to play with my son for one year."

James has said before that he wants to play with his oldest son, Bronny, who will graduate from high school at the end of the 2022-23 season - which is when James senior is set to leave Los Angeles and his Lakers contract.

The Sierra Canyon High School student does not turn 18 until October but he is being mentioned in terms of an NBA future, ranked as a four-star prospect for colleges and the No.34 recruit in the Class of 2023, by the 247Sports website, linked to college programs such as Duke and Kentucky.

It has been pointed out that the current NBA rules would prevent Bronny from entering the draft until 2024, given the "one and done" policy. He could go the NBA G League and their own G League Ignite development squad but that is no place for an NBA legend, future Hall of Famer and a player who is consistently brought up in the Greatest of All Time conversation.

The ifs, buts and maybes of father and son will be seen in the fullness of time but ­LeBron James has already come up against one of Bronny's former teammates in the NBA.

That happened earlier this season when Ziaire Williams lined up against the Lakers for the Memphis Grizzlies.

James was asked if he had realized if he had played an NBA game against one of his son's former teammates.

"Absolutely!" James told the media after the Lakers ran out 121-118 winners.

"I'm aware of everything that is going on on the floor. I looked at Ziaire a couple of times, and I was just shaking my head inside just remembering a year and a half ago, two years, he was hitting a game-winner to send them to the state championship alongside my son… It is a weird dynamic for myself to see something like that but I'm happy for the kid, obviously. I had a moment for sure."

There will hopefully be many moments in store for LeBron and Bronny James in the NBA in the future.

Until then, there are plenty of other fathers and sons who have played together - perhaps even more than you think.

Elsewhere in US professional sports, the most famous example is perhaps the Griffeys - George Kenneth and George Kenneth Jr - in Major League Baseball.

The Griffeys, both of whom went by Ken, played together for the Seattle Mariners in 1990 and 1991 after Senior was let go from the Cincinatti Reds.

Both Griffeys lined up in the outfield together and hit one after another in the batting order - once even hitting back to back home runs. Still it was a nervy proposition for the pair the first time that they lined up for the Mariners. 

"I'm very nervous," Griffey Sr told The Associated Press before the game. 

"It's really going to be weird tonight, playing with my dad," Griffey Jr said. 

They needn't have worried as the Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals.

"This is the pinnacle for me, something I'm very proud of," said Griffey Sr of that feat. "You can talk about the '76 batting race, the two World Series I played in and the All-Star games I played in. But this is No.1. This is the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"We're friends," Griffey Jr said after the win over the Royals - in which both Griffeys hit singles. "We've become more like brothers over the last four or five years," Griffey Sr said. "He's asked me for a lot more advice than he ever asked before."

It's not always as good as that, though. Tim Raines and his son, also Tim Raines, lined up for the Baltimore Orioles in the final week of the 2001 MLB season - becoming only the second father and son duo to play in Major League Baseball. That was about the highlight of their careers together, with Raines Jr never reaching the heights of his father.

It's never happened in the NFL - not in the modern era at any least - but it has happened in modern hockey. The legendary Gordie Howe played with his sons Mark and Marty for the 1979-80 New England Whalers before the World Hockey Association merged with the NHL, where Mark and Gordie played one season together for the now Hartford Whalers.