Rich Paul: “LeBron could leave the Lakers, even if they pick Bronny”

It is not usual for an agent to talk openly about the moves of their players to a certain team. And even less so if we are talking about a young player who is destined to be at least a top 10 pick, one who has generated a lot of hype and expectation, even before reaching the NBA.

But it has been obvious for some time that the situation for Bronny James - LeBron’s son - is not normal. It has been this way ever since his father suggested that one of his ultimate basketball dreams was for the two of them to share the court in the same jersey. Bronny’s (19) fitness levels have also fuelled constant debates: the heart problems are now behind him but working normally at the beginning of the season was a tough ask.

Bronny is small (just shy of 6-foot-9), has a good hand, understands the game, his body is NBA-ready and he has the potential to be a great defender. But he’s not looking like an elite player, let alone anything resembling the legendary career of his father. He’s a second-round or late first-round pick, but that doesn’t mean Bronny’s every move won’t be closely watched. His agent, Rich Paul (LeBron’s right-hand man), hasn’t done much to keep it that way either and has just spoken again, as always with a sincerity rarely seen in elite sports (with Jonathan Givony, ESPN’s expert on young talent).

‘Maybe the Lakers pick Bronny and LeBron doesn’t renew with them’

Givony assures that several teams have tried to organise private workouts with Bronny but have not had the chance, to which Paul adds that only the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers have been able to work first-hand with the player, who was said to be the key to take LeBron, soon to be a free agent. Everything indicates that he will remain with the Lakers, if nothing last-minute happens, and it seems that interest in the father-son reunion has cooled, or so Paul says.

“LeBron no longer has that in his head. If it happens, fine. If it doesn’t, fine. There’s nothing that means he’s going to the Lakers with the 55th pick if LeBron re-signs. If there were such an arrangement, I’d have him picked with their other pick, pick 17. We don’t need to push it. Maybe the Lakers pick Bronny and LeBron doesn’t renew with them. And LeBron is not going to Phoenix on a minimum contract because his son is there.”

The Suns have pick 22 in the first round of the draft. The Lakers have the 17th and 55th. “We want him to go to a team that values him and we do our best to target his pick that way, it’s nothing new. It’s the strategy I follow with my players, especially players who need, like Bronny, time to develop and grow as players. It’s the way I plan things,” Paul says bluntly. He has boycotted individual workouts in the past to dissuade certain teams, and has done other things now prohibited by the new collective bargaining agreement, such as not sharing medical information with teams he didn’t want selecting his clients.

“With Bronny it’s the same way. I tell teams that if they want him, they’ll have to give him a real, guaranteed NBA contract. If not, we’re not even going to talk. It’s hard to grow as a player based on two-way contracts. I don’t care if he goes to the Lakers, the Suns or wherever, it’s just a matter of him fitting in,” he told ESPN.

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The super agent cites other teams that seem very interested in the guard: “Minnesota, Dallas, Toronto... If he doesn’t go to the Lakers, he’ll go to another team. The Wolves would love to have him, but I don’t know who will own him.”

“If the Lakers don’t pick him at 55 and he’s still there, the Mavs would pick him with 58 and give him a guaranteed contract. Masai Ujiri loves him, and the Raptors could pick him with the 31st without even seeing him work out. There are teams for whom going through those individual tryouts isn’t that important. He’s only going to do that with Lakers and Suns, nothing else in principle. If someone else calls me at the last minute, we’ll see.”