Arguably the highlight of the 2024 NBA Draft came in the second round when the Los Angeles Lakers selected Bronny James, the oldest son of LeBron James.
LeBron has talked about wanting to play with his son in the NBA for years, and they now will finally get to live out that dream in the purple and gold.
The pick was naturally met with a lot of criticism considering Bronny only played limited minutes in his lone season at USC and did not have much success. Additionally, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports notably told teams not to draft Bronny in the second round in order for him to get to the Lakers at 55, threatening to go play in Australia instead.
Bronny’s draft selection naturally brought out the nepotism conversation and its prevalence in sports. This is nothing new, however, as ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and Adrian Wojnarowski both called out the people criticizing the Lakers, Bronny and LeBron:
Stephen A. Smith spoke for more than five minutes straight about the role nepotism played in the Lakers' selection of Bronny James.
"We live in a country where nepotism has taken place with white folks religiously forever. We've said little to nothing about it. In the NBA… pic.twitter.com/U7v3lf38H4
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 28, 2024
“People talking about nepotism. The NBA is full of nepotism. The ownership level, front offices, coaching. I don't want to hear about it all of a sudden because Bronny James' father plays for the Lakers. It is rampant in this league” -Woj on ESPN pic.twitter.com/rjBP94PwkD
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) June 27, 2024
They are correct that nepotism is nothing new in sports, and that doesn’t necessarily need to be a bad thing. The Lakers, for example, are a family run organization and have had more success than any organization in all of sports since the Buss family bought the team.
The criticism aimed at the Lakers and LeBron is understandable, but hopefully people won’t take it out on Bronny as he is just a kid trying to live out his dream. When LeBron and Bronny take the court together for the first time, it will be a historical moment and should be celebrated as such, regardless of how they got there.
Rob Pelinka discusses why Lakers drafted Bronny James
One thing that is for sure is that Bronny James will be embraced by the Lakers organization with Rob Pelinka notably speaking on his excitement to add LeBron’s son to the organization.
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