Bronny James found himself in headlines in the aftermath of Las Vegas Summer League for reasons completely out of his control. Rumors circulated that an anonymous player on the Los Angeles Lakers roster criticized the team for giving James special treatment in Las Vegas.
The entire story revolved around the word of one anonymous player, usually indicating a lack of significant truth. However, because of James’ status as the son of the Lakers superstar, the claim was quickly believed. Blake Hinson, the sharpshooter who impressed at Summer League alongside James, addressed the rumors.
In an interview with Trevor Lane and Matthew Peralta of Lakers Nation, Hinson vehemently denied any special treatment for James, writing off the rumor as nonsense.
“No. Where is that at? Honestly, you know how it is. Stuff like that doesn’t really shock me,” Hinson said. “But we need to figure out if that’s even true because to be totally honest with you, as far as his treatment, he was just a normal guy.
“He just played basketball, he really stays out of the way. He’s a cool dude. I don’t really understand how something like that came out. So that’s nonsense to me.”
Hinson repeated the claim while praising James for his attitude on and off the court, saying that he enjoyed the experience of playing alongside the young rookie.
“Cool dude off the court, cool dude on the court. I don’t really understand that nonsense that you just informed me about. That’s not accurate, it shouldn’t be accurate,” Hinson added.
If James did receive any special treatment, Hinson undoubtedly would have seen it first-hand. The former Pitt forward and Lakers two-way shooter shared the floor with James a significant amount during their time together in Summer League, and both received extremely warm welcomes from fans.
It’s unsurprising that a rumor of this kind would circulate given how much attention James has received since being drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft. But Hinson was strong in his convictions that there was no truth to the story.
Bronny James ranks his favorite players of all time
At the end of the day, Bronny James is a 19-year-old who loves basketball and now gets the chance to do it at the highest level. So in less controversial news, James listed some of his favorite basketball players of all time. Of course, it included his dad among other superstars.
He named LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Anthony Edwards and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on that list.
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