After a long wait, it is finally official. The Los Angeles Lakers have selected Bronny James as the 55th pick in the second round of the NBA draft, and he will be united with his father, LeBron James. This will be the first time a father-son duo in the NBA will play together on the same team at the same time.
Bronny James Time With USC
During his time with USC, Bronny James went into cardiac arrest. However, after some time, the forward was cleared to play. He would go on to average 4.8 points per game, 2.8 rebounds per game, and 2.1 assists per game. These are decent stats for a freshman, but are they good enough for an incoming NBA player?
Many believe that James Jr. is only getting picked because of who his father is. There aren’t many players with his stats that find their way onto an NBA team. Of course, when your dad is one of the greatest to ever play, you have a pretty good shot at getting in. Hopefully, Bronny can grow and learn with the Los Angeles Lakers and become a decent player.
The Rich Paul Situation
There was a lot of drama surrounding Bronny James before the NBA draft. It mainly revolved around agent Rich Paul, who was trying his best to get the attention of the younger James. He made quite a few interesting statements that left a bad taste in many mouths. One of these statements was that Bronny wouldn’t play in the G-League.
A more recent issue that came up was that Paul was calling teams, telling them not to draft Bronny. He wanted to ensure that James Jr. was going to the Los Angeles Lakers. He went as far as to say that if any team drafted him, Bronny would go play in Australia instead. This was unnecessary, as not many teams were even looking at the rookie. He didn’t have the stats to warrant this behavior.
Can Bronny Make it in The League?
This is the big question: will Bronny James survive in the NBA? A lot of second-round picks disappear into obscurity or find themselves bouncing around the league from bench to bench. LeBron James will have some pull in this situation and probably ensure this doesn’t happen to his son. However, it’s still a possibility. If Bronny can’t contribute, he isn’t going to play.
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, and it won’t be the last. Many believe Giannis Antetokounmpo’s brother Thanasis still has a contract still because of his brother. There have been other instances of players making it onto teams so that their star relatives would resign. It will be interesting to see if James Jr. can pave his own path or if he’ll just be stuck in his father’s giant shadow forever.
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