The NBA Draft featured a ton of anticipation in terms of who would select Bronny James, the oldest son of Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.
To no surprise, it was the Lakers that ultimately selected Bronny with the No. 55 pick, forming the first father and son duo in the history of NBA.
Prior to his selection, there was plenty of conversation surrounding whether taking Bronny would be good for him in terms of environment as a young player alongside his father. They obviously didn’t see any issue with it though as Rich Paul told other teams not to draft Bronny in order to steer him to the Lakers.
After Bronny was actually draft, it took some time for it to hit LeBron that his son is now in the NBA on the same team as him. He finally took to X to react on Sunday night though:
With the 55th in the 2024 NBA draft. The Los Angeles Lakers select……. Bronny James.
. Just had a moment!
— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 1, 2024
LeBron and the James family obviously have every reason to be excited for Bronny, especially after everything he has been through with his heart in the last year. The real work begins now though and the fact of the matter is that Bronny needs to develop his game, likely spending his time with the South Bay Lakers of the G League this season, before he is ready to play in the NBA.
So while there will be a ton of attention surrounding Bronny and LeBron leading up to their first moment of sharing the floor, the real focus for the Lakers should be on developing the 19-year-old to be a productive player in the future.
Rob Pelinka believes LeBron James & Bronny James playing together will be ‘magical’
It remains to be seen how Bronny James will play at the NBA level, but given the track record the Lakers’ scouting department has, there could be some cautious optimism that he could pan out into a solid 3-and-D guard.
But L.A. is also about storylines and history, so that definitely played a factor in paving the way for Bronny to join the organization. When asked about his thought process, Rob Pelinka admitted that he envisioned a ‘magical’ pairing with LeBron and Bronny. It will be intriguing to see how much time this duo gets with LeBron not having much time left in his illustrious basketball career, but whenever they take the court together for the first time it certainly will be a sight to see.
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