When the Los Angeles Lakers were on the board with the 55th overall pick in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft, it came as no surprise when they selected Bronny James, the oldest son of LeBron James.
LeBron has not been shy about wanting to play with his son in the NBA and with Rich Paul doing his part to not get other teams to draft Bronny, he fell into the Lakers’ lap at 55.
The pick was met with a lot of criticism considering Bronny only played limited minutes and didn’t put up big numbers in his lone season at USC after suffering cardiac arrest last summer.
Late in the second round though, teams are just drafting players they hope can eventually crack the rotation, and Bronny has the potential to do so, especially after a strong shooting performance at the draft combine.
There are NBA players who believe in Bronny’s potential with one of them being Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green as he stated on his podcast that he believes the 19-year-old will be better than a lot of players in his draft class:
“We all know what Bronny went through a year ago. To go through that and make it back from that and be in the NBA within a year is a testament to his drive and work ethic. And I actually think Bronny is gonna end up being a better pro than a lot of these players in this draft because he has the athleticism, has the basketball IQ, plays the game the right way. I think he’s gonna be a good shooter in the NBA. I’m just gonna take the bet that this kid works hard, which he does. He has LeBron James’ DNA and I’m gonna take the bet on that. It makes sense. And then you watch him play and he’s a good basketball player. I’m gonna take that bet because you got him at 55, so if he even become s a rotational player, you did great, and I think he could possibly become a rotational player in the next two years.”
The pathway to Bronny becoming a legit NBA rotation player is to work on his 3-point shooting and perimeter defense. If he can succeed in those areas then he will be impactful despite his lack of size and playmaking chops.
After not playing much at USC though, the main thing for James is just getting minutes to develop his game, and that will likely come at the G League level during his rookie year.
Bronny James will wear No. 9 for Lakers
The Lakers announced the jersey numbers for their 2024 draft class and Bronny James is set to wear No. 9. That was famously worn by Nick Van Exel, and he approves of Bronny rocking his number.
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