The 2024-25 NBA season is set to be a pretty historic one for LeBron James as his son LeBron “Bronny” James Jr. makes his NBA debut on the same team as him. The Los Angeles Lakers rookie will be trying to make his mark in the NBA this year and will be supported by his girlfriend. Who is Bronny James’ girlfriend? Meet Parker Whitfield.
Bronny’s ascension to the NBA ranks has been a controversial one to say the least. His college numbers didn’t exactly blow people away as averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 25 games for USC, making only six starts on a team that went just 15-18.
There were even reports before the 2024 NBA Draft in June that Bronny’s agent effectively forced other teams to avoid drafting him so that the Lakers could select him and allow LeBron to play on the same team as his son. Whether or not that’s true, it’s a narrative that has been ever-present since before the Lakers’ 55th overall pick in the draft was even announced.
Nevertheless, Bronny James is now an NBA player and when he makes his debut we can expect to see his girlfriend in the stands supporting him.
Bronny James started dating his girlfriend between sometime before Summer 2024
It was August 8, 2024, during the Olympic men’s basketball semifinals between Team USA and Team Serbia that the wider sports world noticed a mystery woman sitting alongside LeBron’s eldest son.
Given that Olympic travel plans were likely made weeks, if not months in advance, we can reasonably assume that James and Whitfield made their plans to attend the game sometime before the Olympics – which means they first got together either during or before this past summer.
Bronny’s girlfriend, Parker Whitfield, comes from a Hollywood family
Online “detectives” were quickly able to reveal that the woman was Parker Whitfield, a sophomore at Spelman College and the daughter of Hollywood producer/actress Salli Richardson-Whitfield (I Am Legend, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, CSI: Miami) and actor Dondré Whitfield (Real Husbands of Hollywood, Grey’s Anatomy, NYPD Blue).
Given that the James family lives and goes to school in the Southern California area, it’s pretty easy to see how the two might have found each other.
There is an obvious Lakers connection
As mentioned earlier, Whitfield’s mother Salli Richardson-Whitfield was a producer on the hit series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. Whitfield’s mother is likely extremely close to the organization, which would have opened up many more opportunities for Bronny to meet her ever since he started playing for the team.
Richardson-Whitfield received an Emmy nomination for her work on the show.
She has one brother who loves to golf
The Whitfield family love sharing photos and videos of each other and in many of those posts we can see a fourth member of the family: Parker’s brother, Dre.
The two love golfing together as they’ve been in numerous father-son tournaments together. He even plays golf as a student athlete, where he is set to graduate in 2027.
Dre Whitfield is a diehard golf fan and clearly has aspirations to play at higher levels. He’s won multiple amateur tournaments as evidenced from his Instagram.
Bronny and his girlfriend attended the same high school
Before Bronny and Whitfield even went to college, they were both attending the same high school – California’s Sierra Canyon School. According to People, Bronny played for the Sierra Canyon basketball team while Whitfield was a member of the softball team.
Bronny was at his girlfriend’s 20th birthday party
As you’ll see in the fourth image of the post below, Bronny is clearly close to not just Parker Whitfield, but Whitfield’s entire family. He was one of a select group of people invited to celebrate Parker’s 20th birthday party back in September – meaning that she is older than him by one month.
“Wow!!!!! My baby turned 20 years old today. I’m still in disbelief and shock. This is my baby!!!!!Parker you have become an intelligent, kind hearted and thoughtful young woman!!!! I’m proud of who you are and who you continue to become!!!!! Daddy loves you so much!!! You have become everything that your mom and I intentioned you to be! ❤️👑❤️👑” Dondre Whitfield wrote.
“Happy 20th birthday to my first born. @parker.whitfield to say that I’m proud of you doesn’t explain how much I respect the person that you are growing up to be. I could not ask for a better daughter. I love you dearly,” her mother posted.
Bronny James’ girlfriend went private on social media after they started dating
Sometime after she started seeing Bronny, Parker Whitfield has decided to keep a low profile on social media.
While the rest of her family is very active on social media, particularly Instagram, her Instagram own account is currently private. Other outlets were able to see Bronny posting in the comments on her account as recently as a few months ago.
But that account is now limited to approved followers only, of which there are less than 7,000 as of writing.
We can hardly blame her as social media can get pretty wild when people want to start being critical – particularly of people that are close to you.
Bronny James keeps his relationship with his girlfriend mostly private
Whether it’s purely out of preparation for his first NBA season, or at the request of people close to him, Bronny James has toned down his presence on social media in recent months. Asides from a recent sponsored post with Taco Bell a week ago, he’s barely put anything on Instagram since the summer.
Bronny did make one post on his Instagram Story earlier this month on “National Boyfriend Day,” when Parker Whitfield tagged Bronny in a photo and wrote, “bf day! i love you!” To which Bronny replied, “I love you babyyyyy.”
Bronny James/Instagram.
Time will tell if Bronny James even has a present in the NBA, let alone a future. But it’s clear that his girlfriend will be by his side for what will likely be the most challenging part of it.
Related: Bronny James’ Girlfriend Turns Heads With Instagram Photo