Even though the team is not at all better than it was when the season ended vs the Denver Nuggets two months ago, Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers have still managed to have somewhat of an eventful offseason. The first big move came when Pelinka opted to fire former head coach Darvin Ham and his entire staff in order to bring in JJ Redick (after a failed attempt at Dan Hurley), and now the Lakers made even more headlines by drafting Bronny James, son of team superstar LeBron James, in the second round of the NBA Draft last month.
James, first round pick Dalton Knecht, and the rest of the younger Lakers are currently competing in the NBA Summer League, and the younger James has not exactly been lighting the world on fire so far, which probably should be expected from a number 55 overall pick. Of course, the familial connection with LeBron James has made NBA media discourse run nonstop about Bronny James, and one person who is tired of that is none other than ESPN sports media personality Seth Greenberg.
“I don’t have a reaction, he’s the 55th pick in the NBA Draft. We’re evaluating him like he’s a lottery pick. What he is, is he’s probably the biggest ‘if’ in the draft,” said Greenberg, via NBA on ESPN on YouTube. “Look, terrific kid, 6’1 two guard, high basketball IQ all those things are great. He’s going to end up playing in the G League. This is a great story, it really is, having a chance to play with his dad. I’m sure he’ll have a couple games where he’ll get on the floor, he’s not Ken Griffey Jr. He’s the 55th pick in the draft.”
MLB legend Ken Griffey Jr. played with his father Ken Griffey Sr. back in 1990 under much different circumstances than what the Lakers are currently going through right now.
Will Bronny see the floor this year?
If he does, it probably won't be very much.
At the present moment, D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Dalton Knecht, Max Christie, Gabe Vincent, and Spencer Dinwiddie (if he returns) would all figure to be ahead of Bronny in the Lakers' guard rotation, which is… quite a lot of names to get by on the depth chart.
As Greenberg mentioned, it's much more likely that Bronny James will spend the majority of his season as a member of the NBA G League, where he will look to hone his skills in order to be ready to contribute at the NBA level in future years. Lakers fans would do their new coach JJ Redick a good deed by not incessantly chanting for Bronny to get in the game every time he is in the arena, but that probably won't stop them from doing so, especially during blowouts.
In any case, the Lakers as a whole have not kept pace in the Western Conference so far this offseason, which probably isn't great considering that their first round pick next season will be going to the Atlanta Hawks.
Follow Us
Subscribe