LeBron James and his son Bronny James will change into the first-ever father-son duo to share the ground for a similar NBA workforce. It was the dream that LeBron James first floated just a few years in the past, the notion of taking part in within the NBA alongside one in every of his sons.
And it’s now a step nearer to actuality.
Bronny James – the oldest son of the NBA’s all-time scoring chief and four-time champion – was drafted on Thursday by the Los Angeles Lakers, the workforce that his father has performed for since 2018. Bronny James was taken with the No 55 general decide, deep within the second spherical and with solely three picks remaining on this 12 months’s draft.
Because the second spherical progressed, ESPN reported that Wealthy Paul, who represents each father and son, was calling groups to inform them to not draft Bronny. “Wealthy Paul is asking groups [telling them] don’t take Bronny James,” Bob Myers, the previous GM of the Golden State Warriors, mentioned on ESPN’s draft broadcast. “In the event you take him, he’s going to Australia.”
Now, he’s heading to Los Angeles.
Including additional intrigue to the transfer: LeBron James can change into a free agent subsequent week, which implies he might select to depart the Lakers and signal elsewhere.
The draft transfer doesn’t assure that father and son will really play in a recreation collectively, nor does it even assure that Bronny James can be on the Lakers’ roster subsequent season. Nevertheless it definitely raises the chance that it might occur in what can be an NBA first – a father-son on-court duo within the league concurrently as gamers. There have been about 100 cases in NBA historical past of gamers becoming a member of the league after their fathers performed, however these at all times got here not less than 5 years after the daddy’s profession ended.
“I don’t wish to hear the costs, individuals speaking about nepotism,” Adrian Wojnarowski mentioned on ESPN. “The NBA is stuffed with nepotism. The possession degree, entrance places of work, teaching. I don’t wish to hear about it rapidly as a result of Bronny James’s father performs for the Lakers. It’s rampant on this league.”
However LeBron James’s unimaginable longevity – he’ll match Vince Carter for the longest profession as an NBA participant ever this coming season, which can be his twenty second within the league – makes the father-son duo doable.
“With the fifty fifth decide within the 2024 NBA draft, the Los Angeles Lakers choose Bronny James from the College of Southern California,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum mentioned in asserting the decide, making the second official for the 19-year-old, who was born simply earlier than the beginning of his father’s second NBA season.
Bronny James is a guard, one who was listed at 6ft 4in on USC’s roster however measured 6ft 1in on the draft mix. That might make him one of many shortest gamers within the NBA, however his athleticism and defensive skill helped give him this chance.
He performed one 12 months of faculty basketball at USC and averaged 4.8 factors, 2.8 rebounds and a pair of.1 assists per recreation final season. He performed in 25 video games, lacking the beginning of the season after needing a process final 12 months to repair what was identified as a congenital coronary heart defect, which was discovered after he went into cardiac arrest throughout a summer season exercise.
A panel of medical doctors cleared Bronny James for NBA play final month.
Day two of the draft noticed 24 different gamers get taken earlier than Bronny James, although none of them – not even shut, actually – received the eye that the No 55 choice obtained, for apparent causes.
The fifty fifth decide hardly ever seems to be a participant who captures a slew of consideration. One of the best fifty fifth decide in NBA historical past is Miami Warmth guard Patty Mills, chosen in 2009. He has scored 7,893 factors in his 15-season profession.
Another notable No 55 picks embody Marc Iavaroni, Mark Blount, Kenny Gattison and E’Twaun Moore. There’s by no means been a No 55 decide that was an NBA All-Star, an All-NBA participant, an All-Rookie workforce participant or an All-Defensive workforce decide.
Final season’s No 55 decide, Isaiah Wong, scored precisely two factors for Indiana as a rookie. Add up each No 55 decide ever, and their NBA profession scoring complete is 28,364 factors – greater than 12,000 factors fewer than LeBron James has scored in his profession.
