Bronny James plays his first game for the Lakers just eight days after being drafted - but he'll have to wait to team up with dad LeBron in Los Angeles

Bronny James played his first game for the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday afternoon. 

Bronny was taken by the Lakers with the No. 55 pick in last month's NBA Draft, becoming the first player to be drafted while his father is an active player.  

His dad may be away with the US Olympics team in Las Vegas but Bronny wasted no time in putting on the iconic yellow and purple jersey for the Lakers' Summer League game against the Sacramento Kings in San Francisco. 

Wearing oversized headphones, Bronny looked so much like his famous father during the warm-up it caused some people at Chase Center to do a double-take.

James wound up two for nine for four points, missing all three of his 3s, with a pair of assists, two rebounds and a steal in just under 22 minutes of court time - 21:43 to be exact - as the Lakers lost 108-94.

James missed his initial two shots while playing nearly six minutes in his first action - grabbing a defensive rebound one minute, 20 seconds into the game then missing a 21-foot jump shot moments later. 

He came up short on a 26-foot 3-point try at the 4:23 mark of the opening quarter before getting a breather.

There were cheers and a warm ovation when James returned to the court at the 8:17 mark of the second quarter. 

He was initially whistled for his first career foul on a 3-point attempt by Sacramento's Xavier Sneed on the right wing with 7:23 remaining, and James argued briefly before the play went to replay review and was overturned. James missed a 3 off the front rim from the top of the arc at 7:04.

Then, at last, James scored his first NBA points on a driving layup 5:51 before halftime.

James missed a pair of free throws at the 4:43 mark of the third period in his first trip to the line. 

He will get another chance to play Sunday, when the Lakers face the Warriors, again at the Chase Center. 

'The atmosphere, it was more than I expected,' a grinning James said on Saturday.

'It's a big game for me, but I didn't know the people of Golden State would come and rep for me, so that was pretty nice to see.

'Every first game that I step on the next level there's always some butterflies in my stomach, but as soon as the ball tips and we go a couple times down it all goes away and I'm just playing basketball. It's always going to be there but get through it.' 

Coach Dane Johnson plans to give James plenty of chances to acclimate and gain valuable experience in the coming days and weeks.

'Hopefully he'll play all the games, we´ll see how it goes,' Johnson said. 'We´re going to try to integrate him and get him as many reps as we can. He needs more experience playing.'

If all goes as planned, the 19-year-old and his dad will become the first father-son pair to play in the NBA at the same time - and on the same team no less.

Bronny is NBA career scoring leader LeBron's oldest son. He survived a cardiac arrest last July 24 during an informal team workout at USC and it was later determined he had a congenital heart defect.

The younger James signed a four-year contract that will pay him $7.9 million.