The Los Angeles Lakers surprised nobody when they selected Bronny James with the No. 55 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. In the days and weeks leading up to the draft, all of the chatter seemed to suggest that he was going to be the Lakers pick in the second round. And now Bronny James will get the chance to play with his dad, LeBron James.
Leading up to the NBA Draft, chatter swirled that Bronny James was only willing to workout for the Lakers and the Phoenix Suns. The Suns had the opportunity to draft Bronny in the second round when they moved up to the No. 40 overall pick in a trade with the New York Knicks. They instead selected Oso Ighodaro clearing the way for the Lakers to draft Bronny.
But even before the Lakers were on the clock, former NBA executive turned ESPN analyst Bob Myers dropped a bit of news on the broadcast claiming that Bronny's agent Rich Paul was telling teams not to draft him and to allow him to fall to the Lakers or else he would head to Australia.
Most of the chatter surrounding Bronny all the way up to the pick itself and afterwards had little to do with Bronny's talent as a basketball player. That's been lost in the entire saga. When it comes down to it, the Lakers made a good pick from a basketball perspective.
Bronny can help the Lakers on the court
Nevermind the narrative of Bronny James and LeBron James getting to be on the same team together. Bronny can contribute to the Lakers on the court, just maybe not right away. Sure he had an underwhelming season at USC. But he turned heads at the NBA Draft combine and college production doesn't always equal NBA success.
Bronny is in the mold of a good backup guard in the NBA. He has the ball-handling. He has the playmaking skills. He has the tools to be a good shooter off the catch. During his high school days at Sierra Canyon, he was often the floor leader and did a solid job running the offense. He's an incredibly unselfish player who gets his teammates scoring opportunities. He's also a good defensive player.
Nobody ever said that Bronny was going to be a star in the NBA, only that he deserves to have his prospects evaluated based on his actual ability and not any off the court narratives.
Lakers fans are going to have to be patient though. There's going to be bumps and hiccups along the way. The Lakers, ushering in a new era with JJ Redick at the helm, are in championship contender mode. Bronny isn't going to get a chance to play right away next season, at least not consistent minutes.
Bronny is going to spend a good majority of the 2024-25 season in the G League playing for the South Bay Lakers. He's going to have a standard contract though based on pre-draft warnings from his agent, Rich Paul, that he was not interested in signing a two-way contract.
But there's nothing wrong with that. The argument can be made that he is worth a standard contract. If his last name wasn't James, there would probably be more chatter about his NBA chances. Playing the G League, he'll get necessary on court reps that will help accelerate his development as opposed to just sitting on the bench.
Final Draft Grade: B. But only because Bronny is still a little ways off from contributing, but he is a legit NBA guard in the making.
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