The Los Angeles Lakers received a lot of criticism when they decided to draft Bronny James, the oldest son of LeBron James, with the 55th overall pick in the second round earlier this summer.
After dealing with a heart issue, Bronny only played limited minutes in his lone season at USC, leading many to believe he was not ready to make the jump to the NBA.
James and the Lakers took the criticism in stride though, and his play improved throughout the course of Summer League after a rocky start.
One person who didn’t have a problem with the draft pick though is TNT analyst and former NBA great Kenny Smith. He said that he believes Bronny deserved to be drafted because of his pedigree, via DJ Siddiqi of Responsible Gambling:
“I think as the 55th pick he deserved that,” says Smith in a one-on-one interview with RG.org while speaking on behalf of his partnership with Ensure. “That means that when you’re in that second round, we’re waiting on you, we’re waiting for you to develop. That’s what that really means. And he’s one of those players who is a McDonald’s All-American, he was one of the top guards in his class as a freshman, that’s what they’re waiting on. The same kid who played with him at USC, Isaiah Collier, was drafted in the first round. He didn’t have a great year either in terms of USC basketball. We’re waiting on him, we’re waiting on Bronny.”
The fact of the matter is that Bronny was a second round pick and the majority of them don’t pan out in the NBA. Like a lot of the other players that were drafted in a similar area, it will be up to Bronny and the Lakers to develop his game so he can be a valuable NBA rotation player.
While sharing the court with LeBron and making history as the first father-son dup in the NBA will be an awesome moment for the James family and Lakers organization, the expectation is that Bronny will spend a majority of his rookie season in the G League so he can continue with his development in a setting that makes sense.
Despite having a lot of doubters, it’s good to see that Bronny has at least one supporter in the media with Smith.
Lakers owner Jeanie Buss appreciates Bronny James’ work ethic
If Bronny James is going to become an NBA player then he will need to work extremely hard to improve his game. That work ethic was instilled in him at a very young age though, which Lakers owner Jeanie Buss said she appreciated when talking about the newest member of her team.
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