Bronny James is officially an NBA draftee — and probably thanks to his dad.
However, reports say that LeBron, Bronny and Co. didn’t just happen into the first father-son duo on an NBA team by accident when the Los Angeles Lakers selected him in the second round of the NBA Draft on Thursday.
Rather, according to one ESPN source, Bronny’s agent was telling other teams not to draft him, or else he was going to go play in another country.
I know it was hard to miss it, because absolutely nothing else happened on Thursday — say, the supposed leader of the free world appearing on a debate stage and immolating his campaign and his presidency through a thoroughly shocking display of senility — Bronny was drafted by his father’s Los Angeles Lakers with the 55th pick in the draft.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with how the NBA Draft works, it’s not like the NFL where a second-round pick is prime stock. In fact, once you get past the first 15 picks in the first round, you’re throwing the dice at best. By pick No. 55, you might as well just put in a joke pick for Waylon Smithers, Joey Buttafuoco or the ghost of Wilt Chamberlain.
The Los Angeles Lakers are selecting Bronny James with the No. 55 pick in the 2024 NBA draft, sources say. LeBron and Bronny James to become the first ever father-son duo to be in the NBA at the same time. pic.twitter.com/CyewBHNswz
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 27, 2024
In fact, in Bleacher Report’s mock draft, which had him going exactly where he went, this is why the analysts thought he’d get picked by the Lakers: “If he’s still on the board deep into the second round, L.A.’s front office could feel pressure to select him, considering it’s essentially a risk-free pick that late, and passing at No. 55 would signal to LeBron how little the team thinks of Bronny.”
His main talent, in other words, is not insulting dad. Not exactly a promising skill set.
Do you like LeBron?
But, to be fair, Bronny had shown promise in high school and while his decision to come out of the University of Southern California for the draft after averaging just 4.8 points per game in his freshman year, he did have an excuse for poor performance: The guy was lucky to be alive after suffering a cardiac arrest during a basketball workout over the summer and having to rehab from that.
However, confusing the situation further is ESPN insider Bob Myers, who said that Bronny’s agent was telling teams picking before No. 55 not — I repeat, not — to pick him.
“Rich Paul is calling teams, don’t take Bronny James … if you take him, he’s going to Australia.” 😳
Bob Myers on Bronny James’ draft status 👀 pic.twitter.com/p6mWNMAjma
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) June 27, 2024
“Right now, Rich Paul is calling teams, don’t take Bronny James, he’s telling them ‘do not take him,’” Myers said, referring to Bronny’s agent and close friend of LeBron’s.
Myers, who helped build the semi-dynastic Golden State Warriors of the late 2010s, added: “He’s saying don’t take him, if you take him, he’s going to Australia.”
This is curious talk, and even more curious when you consider that Paul was talking about how “deserving” his client was of being drafted, since he had so much “to prove” at the pro level.
“He’s got just as much to prove as anybody that was drafted with him Thursday,” Paul said, according to Bleacher Report. “He deserves to be in the NBA.”
And, as Bleacher Report noted, the move would work out for the Lakers, at the very least; “LeBron James has yet to officially commit to playing another season with the Lakers, as it looks like his $51.4 million player option decision could come down to the Saturday deadline,” the publication noted.
“Whether he takes the option or enters free agency, it seems like a foregone conclusion that the older James will return to Los Angeles now that he has the chance to become the first father to play with his son in NBA history.”
Yes, well, this is hardly Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. playing together with the Seattle Mariners. The fact that James already enters the league with the tag of being a nepo baby is problematic enough, although he was rated highly enough in high school that he was once thought of as a first-round talent.
If you’re picking in the second round — where four of the players picked in 2023 have never even played in an NBA game, period — Bronny would be worth taking a flyer on. Unless, of course, you were told that if you pick him, he goes to play in Australia. In other words, not only was his best draft attribute that he made daddy happy, his one demand was also that he made daddy happy.
If Bronny wanted to prove he was a bona fide NBA talent, as per his agent’s words, this wasn’t the way to do it. Maybe this does work out for everyone involved — but it’s certainly not a good look to start your career as the entitled son of the face of the franchise, picked merely to placate your father and keep him with the team.
