Bronny James Drafted 55th Overall in NBA Draft, Makes History
There has been a lot of hype since he declared for the draft, and it finally came to fruition. After 54 draft picks and almost two full days of the draft, the Los Angeles Lakers have drafted Bronny James, son of future NBA Hall of Famer LeBron James. This late second-round pick makes them the first father-son duo in league history. In his one year at USC, he averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists on 36.6 from the field, 26.7% from three, and 67.6% from the free throw line.
However, there has been a lot of speculation going into the draft if Bronny is really ready for the NBA or not. LeBron has expressed his hopes to play with his son starting all the way back in 2022 when Bronny was still in high school. Even though there hasn’t been much said publicly by LeBron or the team leading up to the draft, it can be easily inferred that he lobbied hard for the Lakers to draft his son. Obviously, his stats in his one year of college aren’t eye-popping, especially since he was a rotation player on a USC team that underperformed in the last season of the PAC-12. The real question is: What does his future in the NBA look like?
To start things off poorly, in the draft combine, Bronny came in at six-foot-one, not his six-foot-four stature that he was listed at during his time in college. This could’ve hurt his draft stock, as he is more of a pure shooting guard than a point guard. On a positive note, his max vertical came in at slightly over 40 inches, which is the fourth-best measurement during the combine. A big gripe on Bronny is that he is unable to create his own shot and has to use screens to create looks for himself and his teammates. Many scouts during the combine gave him bad grades, most saying he was not ready for the NBA. During the combine games, he showed many flaws, most noticeably his three-point struggles. A bright spot for Bronny was his 13-point performance in the second combine game and looked to settle in a little bit. He is definitely a weird prospect, not only because he will be playing with his dad, but also in the fact that he has shown bits and pieces of potential, but wasn’t able to put all the pieces together in college and the combine. Many believe he is too young for the NBA, but who knows, he is the son of LeBron at the end of the day. Do you think he’s ready, or was he forced into it too quickly?
