Bronny James’ first year with the Los Angeles Lakers was a rollercoaster as he dealt with hate and criticism almost immediately despite not saying or doing much to warrant it.
By virtue of being LeBron James’ son, Bronny was subject to ridicule most rookies never face because the thought is the Lakers only drafted him to appease the star. While the Lakers admittedly like to make history, they were adamant they drafted Bronny because of his upside as a prospect.
After Bronny and LeBron shared the court together on opening night, the former spent most of his time developing with the South Bay Lakers. Bronny clearly benefitted from playing in the G League as he returned to the Lakers later in the season looking like a more confident player.
LeBron has been in the news cycle recently because of trade speculation, but Bronny admitted he’s been paying no attention to what goes on with his dad, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
“Actually, one of my friends called me, talking about where [I was going to play next season], what I was going to do because they saw my dad [in the news],” Bronny said Wednesday. “I didn’t see it. He called me. I was like, ‘Yeah, I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ … I don’t really pay attention to that stuff. There’s a lot of stuff going around that I don’t pay attention to.”
Bronny also revealed that LeBron’s advised him not to pay attention to any outside noise:
“We don’t really talk about it much,” Bronny said. “I think when stuff like that does come up, he just tells me to not worry about it, to not even pay attention to it [and] just lock into what you have going on right now. And that’s what’s going to get me better and to keep me focused. I think it’s good that he tells me to not pay attention to that stuff.”
From the sound of it, Bronny isn’t concerning himself with LeBron’s future and is simply focused on getting better. There are executives around the league who believe Bronny could be a rotation player next season, so it’ll be interesting to see how much better he’s gotten this summer.
Bronny James and Lakers to face Cooper Flagg and Mavericks in Las Vegas Summer League Opener
Bronny James is on the Lakers’ Summer League roster and he’ll headline a marquee matchup against Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks in the Las Vegas Summer League opener.
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