Oct 22, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James (9) and forward LeBron James (23) warm up before a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images The discourse surrounding Bronny James has been exhausting from the jump, but he’s also not as bad as everyone says.
Sure, there was a bit of nepotism at play to get Bronny on the Los Angeles Lakers. LeBron James worked some draft-night magic to ensure Bronny would wind up in Hollywood during the second round of the NBA Draft.
But that’s exactly what Bronny is — a late second-round pick.
Typically, these guys spend most of their NBA careers in the G League. While second-rounders like Nikola Jokic, Draymond Green and Jalen Brunson have found ways to become superstars, they are the exception, not the rule.
Bronny is still just 20 years old. He didn’t play much college basketball. He was a somewhat unproven high school commodity. The athleticism and basketball IQ are undoubtedly there because of his father, but the rest of it was always going to need time to develop.
The undermanned Lakers leaned on Bronny for 30 minutes against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night. Bronny scored a career-high 17 points and was a super efficient 7-of-10 from the field. He added five assists and three rebounds.
While the Lakers were decimated 118-89 by the Bucks, Thursday evening proved that the eldest James offspring does belong on an NBA court. It might just take some time for the consistency to come.
And the national NBA talking heads won’t like it. It’s not clear-cut. It’s not easy. The fact that Bronny wears a Lakers warmup and sits at the end of the bench bothers them for whatever reason. The fact that he is quietly and slowly improving in the G League does not pull big headlines, but that’s the path that most second-round picks have to take.
While Stephen A. Smith was publicly clashing with LeBron, Bronny was working on his game. Give the kid a little bit of credit. As a second-round pick, he has been one of the biggest stories around the NBA all season long. His confidence in his own ability hasn’t wavered.
Have there been some bad moments? Sure. Have there been some bricks? Plenty of them.
But Bronny James has never been a complete scrub. He’s a Day 2 rookie who needs some time to develop, and his last name put a target and a ton of pressure on his back.