It’s not easy being the son of someone famous — especially if that someone famous is perceived to have helped you enter a ludicrously exclusive club.
Such is the burden of the son of Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James.
James’ son (LeBron Jr. — otherwise known as Bronny) was a relatively nondescript college basketball player who was far better known for his famous father than his on-court production.
That didn’t stop the Lakers from drafting Bronny, creating the first father-son duo in the NBA, with the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
Most reports suggested that James used just about every trick in the book to get his son on the Lakers, and those faint accusations of “nepotism” grew increasingly louder.
Those allegations hit a bit of a fever pitch when, as ESPN reported, James inked a 4-year, $7.9 million contract with the Lakers.
Both the total years and total amount are relative anomalies for the 55th pick in the NBA Draft.
Many likely assumed that James would be looking forward to actually just playing basketball and avoiding all the extra noise currently surrounding him.
Do you think Bronny James will have a long NBA career?
That assumption appears to have been wrong, because James’ struggles in the NBA Summer League have sparked the loudest criticisms yet.
(Of note, the NBA Summer League is a special exhibition showcase, which established players generally don’t play in. The league is for rookies wanting to ease into their pro debut or players using the league as a “last chance” to try out for an NBA team. Therefore the competition is greatly lesser compared to that of the NBA proper.)
Here’s a viral video of one of James’ various misses in Summer League play:
Bronny James is now 0-of-14 from beyond the arc in Summer League 😬
Taking good shots, but they are not going down. pic.twitter.com/Lu5omQmK4o
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 16, 2024
The comments on social media have been less than kind to the young James.
Many comments were commenting about some of James’ “brutal” airballs — which are bad misses that don’t touch the net or rim, for those unfamiliar with basketball speak — while others were flat out stating that LeBron’s son was simply not deserving of being in the NBA.
He isn’t a NBA caliber player no matter what his last name is. 🤷♂️
— TheHero (@RobertGC2001) July 16, 2024
“He isn’t a NBA caliber player no matter what his last name is,” the biting post said.
One X account that specializes in drudging up poorly-aged posts also hammered the elder James, who posted in March 2023 about how his son is “definitely better” than some NBA players.
And that’s just one viral video and one viral post.
The rest of social media largely appears to be teeming with critics of both Bronny and LeBron James.
Bronny averaged a paltry 4.8 points on a bad 36.6 percent shooting from the field (and an even worse 26.7 percent from three), while chipping in 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in about 19 minutes per game as a freshman at the University of Southern California.
Bronny’s new teammate, LeBron James, meanwhile, averaged 25.7 points, 8.3 assists and 7.3 rebounds per game, while shooting 54 percent from the field in his 20th NBA season last year.
