Flashback: Bronny James Predicted No Team Would Take Him In The Draft Simply To 'Get His Dad'

A video of Bronny James at last month’s NBA combine resurfaced after his surprising selection in the second round of the NBA draft Thursday.

James was considered by many scouts to be unworthy of being chosen in the draft with his unremarkable 4.8 points per game average with USC this past season.

One scout flat-out called him “not an NBA prospect.”

The Los Angeles Lakers seemingly drafted Bronny with the sole purpose of enticing LeBron James to stay with the team. LeBron has wanted to fulfill his dream of playing in the NBA with his son.

But Jr. didn’t think this was how it would go. At least, that’s what he was saying.

“This is a serious business, and I don’t feel like there would be a thought of ‘I’m just drafting this kid just because I’m going to get his dad,’” Bronny said last month. “I don’t think a GM would really allow that.”

Bronny James – “This is a serious business and I don’t think there would be a thought that I’m just drafting this kid because of his Dad” pic.twitter.com/xVztnAVpsi
— Hoops (@HoopMixOnly) June 27, 2024

Bronny James To The Lake Show After Draft

One GM allowed it. Los Angeles Lakers GM Rob Pelinka. He did his best to pretend the team hadn’t blatantly selected Bronny James in the draft solely because his father currently plays for them and/or could opt out of his contract.

“Bronny is first and foremost a person of high character and second he is a young man that works incredibly hard. Those are the qualities we look for in drafting players,” he said.

His last name was purely coincidental, of course.

“He’s not a person who is taking shortcuts or is entitled to basketball opportunities,” he said of the one person in the draft who was given a shortcut and appeared entitled. “He’s worked for everything he’s gotten, including being selected today.”

The younger James agreed with that sentiment in his remarks at the combine.

“I’ve put in the work and I would get drafted because of not only the player but the person that I am,” he said.

The League Should Be Looking Into This

There probably aren’t too many basketball players drafted by an NBA team who averaged 4.8 points per game in college. And that’s actually a dropoff, because he was averaging a little over 5 ppg earlier in the season.

So we can all dispense with the ‘Bronny was drafted on his credentials’ charade coming out of Laker-land.

Once we move past that, the league needs to investigate the Lakers for tampering. There is little to no chance that the Lakers didn’t discuss the situation with LeBron who then relayed the information to Bronny prior to the draft.

Or maybe they spoke to Bronny outright.

Either way, there’s no way he commits to the NBA draft with those paltry numbers without assurance. If he didn’t have that safety blanket in Los Angeles, he’d have ended up playing in Europe.

The Lakers were a once-proud franchise. Now they waste draft picks on players’ kids as a favor to them and hire coaches with zero experience.

What a travesty brewing out in LA.