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Dave McMenamin
Multiple Authors
LeBron James accomplished another first in his illustrious career with Saturday’s 129-101 win over the Golden State Warriors.
The first father-daughter road trip of his 23 years in the league.
“Good win, good win,” James said as he walked off the court and through the tunnel at Chase Center, holding hands with his 11-year-old daughter, Zhuri. “Good luck charm right here, 1-0.”
L.A. had been on a three-game losing streak prior to Saturday’s game, and all three were painful in their own way. The first loss was a 111-89 blowout to the rival Boston Celtics; then there was a botched final play vs. the Orlando Magic; and finally, a missed last-second shot against an undermanned Phoenix Suns team, after the Lakers blew a double-digit lead.
The vibes were different Saturday, with the Lakers singing, “Happy Birthday” to Luka Doncic at the team hotel and presenting him with a cake in the shape of a basketball jersey — with half the icing depicting L.A.’s colors and the other half representing the Slovenian national team.
And then at the arena, they had a new player on the court pregame, with Zhuri doing dribbling drills along with her dad and even throwing him a lob for a dunk.
“I miss a lot of moments, you know, spending time with my kids because of my career,” said James, who has three children with his wife, Savannah, including Bronny (21) and Bryce (18).
“Over the course of my career, anytime I got moments with them either individually, two of them, three of them all together, whatever the case may be — it’s always special for me. So to have my daughter want to come on the road and be with me [is special].”
James said he and Zhuri spent Friday as tourists in San Francisco, visiting Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge and getting dinner together.
“It’s definitely softened me up over the last 11 years,” James said of being a girl dad. “I had two boys to begin with, but getting a little girl 11 years ago, man, it’s definitely softened me up. So it’s special to have her. You know, it’s a different type of love. If anybody got girls and boys, it’s a different type of love that you [share]. It’s tough love when it comes to my boys. I yell at them and stuff, whatever. They take it. They know how to approach it. It’s different. It’s a little softness with my daughter. So it’s pretty cool.”
While Zhuri showed some dribbling skills and even hit a trick shot behind her back from the foul line, James said she won’t be following in the family business.
This Zhuri James trickshot 🤯
And then the lob to her father! ❤️
LAKERS/WARRIORS • Next on ABC pic.twitter.com/BL59syr9DE
— NBA (@NBA) March 1, 2026
“She’s a volleyball player,” he said. “Don’t get my wife mad. My wife is done with this basketball s—. She’s done with it. She’s a volleyball player. But she’s been around the game for a while, so she does got good handles. She got a good [shooting] form, too. But my wife ain’t playing that. Not another one. She said that’s it. That’s it.”
Now the question is how many more road games Zhuri can make it to, especially if her presence will spark L.A. to play the way it did against the Warriors.
“She’s going to Denver,” quipped Austin Reaves in the locker room, referring to the Lakers’ next road game on Thursday against the Denver Nuggets.
Said James: “Don’t say that too loud, because she’ll definitely be like, ‘Dad, can I go to Denver?’
“She already said, ‘When is the next road trip?'”