How good is Lebron James’ son Bronny? Will he make it to the NBA?
With a recent mock draft projecting him to go to the Magic, the son of ‘King James’ is now the talk of the town, as it may affect his father’s future plans.
Being an athlete and the child of a professional athlete is never an easy gig. Being the child of one of the greatest players to ever play the sport is even tougher on a young kid, but Bronny James seems to be handling the spotlight exactly how you would expect someone to from the James household to handle it.
Fame doesn’t faze him, says Williams
As a kid, you want to just go out and play the game you love. Hanging with your buddies, going on road trips, suicides after practice. That’s part of growing up living and loving the game of basketball. When you grow up in the shadow of a superstar, like Bronny has his whole life, people start to create expectations for your future. It doesn’t mean that Bronny or any other child of a super star athlete, is forced into having to play the game their parent created a legacy in, but many times that the way it plays out.
“You’d be surprised by all the stuff Bronny has to go through,” said Bronny’s former high school teammate and current Memphis Grizzlies player Ziaire Williams “It’s not fair, but he doesn’t let it faze him at all. I’m learning how to be more like that from him, and he’s younger than me.”
The Curry’s, Walton’s and Sabonis’ rare breeds in NBA
When you look at the number of legendary players across all sports, the percentage of times their children become athletes of the same caliber in the same sport is extremely low. With that said, it does happen in basketball at times, as we have seen with the Curry brothers for example. Steph and Seth both followed their dad, Dell’s footsteps to the NBA. Dell had a long career in the NBA and groomed Steph into one of the greatest players of all time. Arvydas Sabonis paved the way for his son Domantas to reach the NBA and become an All-Star in the league. The Walton’s, Luke and his dad Bill, are one of the few father son combos to each win titles.
Like Luke, Dell was never a super star in the league. While getting to the league is tough enough, becoming a second-generation superstar is nearly impossible. We have only seen it across a few sports. In baseball it actually happens quite often. Take a look at Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr., or Vladimir Guerrero and Vlad Guerrero Jr. Where football is concerned, who could forget the likes of the Matthews family, with offensive lineman, Bruce Matthews, who groomed his son Clay Matthews into one of the best linebackers to ever play the game.
Bronny James in his senior year
This of course, brings us to the obvious question: Can Bronny James become a star in the NBA? You will note that question clearly omits any comparison to his father. As the NBA’s new all-time points leader, a former MVP and NBA champion on several occasions and arguably the greatest player in the history of the game, it would be unfair to have those kinds of expectations of Bronny. On the other hand, we believe he’s shown enough to indicate he’s got a bright future ahead of him.
In this his final year with Sierra Canyon, James has made significant strides with his shooting and playmaking, however, his perimeter defense can be considered the best of his class. Indeed, now standing at 6′3″ and weighing in at 180 pounds, his frame has also filled out in a way that supports his better-balanced game. Needless to say, there is plenty of room for improvement, but it’s worth noting that the major recruiting services are now all in agreement that the kid has got something. To be clear, James has been averaging 14 points, a team-high 5.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.8 steals per game. The question in need of answer now is, where will he be taking his skill set after leaves high school. While there have been reports of a number of schools trying to recruit him (Michigan, Ohio State, UCLA, USC and Oregon) Bronny himself has given no comment on the situation, which of course has led to intense speculation.
If Bronny James goes to Orlando, what will LeBron do?
As you probably know, the NBA no longer allows teenagers to make the jump from high school to the NBA, so Bronny and his father will have to wait an extra year to potentially be hitting the hardwood together while wearing the same jersey. It’s been a dream of LeBron’s for a long time, but the Mock Draft might just be making the NBA’s All-Time Leading scorer rethink things. It’s improbable, but who knows?
Let’s set the record straight. The Draft order for the 14 teams that fail to make the playoffs is determined by a lottery. So, that right there should settle the nerves of LeBron fans dreading the inevitable end of the James era. If this year’s draft order is impossible to predict, imagine how unlikely it is that the ESPN Mock Draft hits it right on the head with an entire season in-between now and the 2024 draft day. If, and that is a HUGE IF, the Mock Draft predictions are right then LeBron might have to eat his words, or retire. The year after the NBA bubble was played in Orlando, James went on HBO show The Shop and talked about what he would do if he ever got traded to the Orlando Magic. He had a short and sweet answer that got right to the point. “I’m not going. I’m just retiring, it’s over.”