The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t make many offseason moves and are largely returning the same roster from last season. As such, the move that has gotten by far the most attention was the selecting of Bronny James, son of superstar LeBron James, with the 55th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
While the Lakers have insisted that they see Bronny as a prospect who could be an impact player in the future, particularly defensively, most simply view the move as being done to appease LeBron and allow him to make history by playing with his son. Seemingly everyone has an opinion on the move and that includes former All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins.
Cousins recently appeared on Run It Back on Fanduel TV and said that he feels the Lakers drafting Bronny is a sign that the franchise isn’t serious about winning right now:
“I take it as a move as I don’t really think the Lakers are serious anymore. I love everything that it stands for. I think what Bron is doing with his legacy, as a businessman and everything that comes with it, I think it’s a beautiful thing, I think it’s really, really dope. But as far as the Lakers actually competing, I don’t know I take that as a sign as they aren’t really serious. With the way the season ended last year with the high expectations, I expected more from them as far as making moves. I do like the kid from Tennessee that they drafted [Dalton Knecht], I think he can be an instant impact player for them. But they had a lot of concerns last year that I don’t think really were addressed and I didn’t really see those moves being made in the offseason as well so it’s TBD in my opinion.”
Cousins’ opinion certainly isn’t an uncommon one and Bronny has struggled in his time on the court in both preseason and Summer League. Additionally, the Lakers have made no secret as to how treating their superstars is very important to this franchise and this move would fall under that umbrella.
On the other side of that, however, is the fact that the Lakers selected him near the end of the second round, an area where most franchises take shots on prospects and rarely find impact players, especially those who can play immediately. Many draft experts had Bronny ranked in that range as a prospect and the team’s drafting of Dalton Knecht, an older, more ready-made prospect in the first-round, goes against Cousins’ opinion.
There were a lot of factors at play in the Lakers’ drafting of Bronny and appeasing LeBron undoubtedly played a factor. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the Lakers are punting this season away as Cousins suggests.
Lakers’ LeBron James wants Bronny James to speak for himself
As has been apparent since the moment he was drafted by the Lakers, there is a lot of attention and pressure on Bronny James. How he will handle those expectations are unclear though he has been nothing but professional to this point. One thing that won’t happen, however, is his father LeBron James speaking for him.
“You got to ask him,” LeBron said when asked how Bronny will handle the outside noise. “That’s a grown man. Ask him how he’s handling it. And then we go from there. But he’s a grown man. He’s a professional. He can handle all this pressure himself. But we know why — good or bad why — the attention is here.”
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