On Day 2 of the 2024 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers created themselves a new storyline by selecting Bronny James, the oldest son of LeBron James, with the 55th pick.
There was plenty of skepticism leading up to Bronny declaring for the draft and throughout his entire draft process. However, it is worth mentioning that he is only 19-years-old and does not have to perform right away to prove that the pick was a good knew.
The plan is for him to continue to develop with the South Bay Lakers during his rookie season, getting valuable reps that he missed out on during his lone college season. But Bronny isn’t the only one of LeBron’s sons that is gaining steam as a pro prospect as the young son Bryce has been developing at the high school level as well.
While LeBron will get to play with Bronny in the NBA, it remains to be seen if the same will be said for Bryce. He is not expecting his day to be around in the league when he is eligible, however, via Lakers All Day Everyday:
I asked Bryce James if he thinks LeBron would wait for him to get drafted before retiring. His response:
“That’s OD… he’s gonna be 42 bro.”
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— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) June 29, 2024
Never say never when it comes to LeBron James as he is coming off of playing 71 games last season at 39-years-old. Considering how well he continues to play, the expectation is that James will play at least two more season.
However, he is going to be 40-years-old and is entering his 20th season, so perhaps LeBron doesn’t want to continue playing that much longer. While it would be truly remarkable for Bryce to somehow play in the NBA with LeBron, it seems like a long shot to actually happen.
Lakers scouts made it priority to watch Bryce James at Peach Jam
Now that the Lakers are nearing the end of this LeBron James and Anthony Davis pairing, L.A. is beginning to value young prospects to usher in a new era. However, that has been met with some pushback as the Golden State Warriors recently have tried this two-timeline thing and have not particularly fished great results.
Nonetheless, the Lakers pride themselves on scouting and it is never a bad idea to get ahead of the curve on trying to look for prospects in future drafts. One name that has surfaced is Bryce as L.A. scouts made it a priority to go out to Peach Jam to scout him last summer.
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