Credit squandered
LeBron and Bronny James: Genius or ego show?
LeBron and Bronny James will almost certainly be the first father-son duo to take to the court together in an NBA game. But the Los Angeles Lakers have also lost a lot of credit with the second-round draft of the 20-year-old offspring of the basketball legend.
Numerous fans and critics believe that the once proud club has completely surrendered to the ego show of the ageing "King James" and sold its soul with such antics.
"Means everything"
The 79th season in NBA history kicks off next Tuesday (local time) with the game between the defending champions Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks. A few hours later, many more eyes will be on the LA Lakers' first game against the Minnesota Timberwolves - in anticipation of LeBron James junior's first NBA appearance. The son of four-time champion LeBron James, known as Bronny, was selected with the 55th pick in the NBA draft on June 27, 2024. Now the two James men are on the verge of making sporting history. "For a father, it means everything," said the soon-to-be 40-year-old LeBron James.
For a 20-year-old who already can't take a step unobserved, this is certainly an extraordinary situation and comes with a lot of pressure. "I've been confronted with things like this my whole life. It's certainly intensified now, but I can take it," Bronny James assured the media at a press conference. "I never thought I'd be playing with my dad either."
After suffering a cardiac arrest in the summer of 2023, Bronny had only played one season at the University of Southern California before declaring for the draft. His performances were anything but stellar. Nevertheless, legions of media people gathered at the official presentation of the 1.88-metre guard in July.
Although the father-son constellation is not a precedent in top-class sport, it only occurs in exceptional cases. Ice hockey icon Gordie Howe was a teammate of his two sons Marty and Mark with the Houston Aeros in his mid-forties, while in Major League Baseball Ken Griffey senior and Ken Griffey junior played together for the Seattle Mariners for a time in the early 1990s. Icelandic footballer Eidur Gudjohnsen came on as a substitute for his father Arnor Gudjohnsen in an international match against Estonia in 1996. In Austria, Mykola Bilyk even won the handball championship title with his dad Serhij in goal for Fivers Margareten in 2016 before joining THW Kiel.
Extortionate?
LeBron James made it clear to the Lakers soon enough that his last big dream in the NBA was to play together with his son. The fact that Bronny's heart stopped beating a year ago may have changed the dynamics within the family once again and reinforced this wish. But whether it was a wise and understandable decision from the club's point of view to draft James junior has been the subject of heated debate for weeks. There has been talk of nepotism and blackmail by LeBron James and agent Rich Paul, especially on social media.
From the point of view of the Lakers' management, one could argue that there is nothing wrong with a draft experiment. But since the NBA draft only runs for two rounds, every pick has to be carefully considered. And Bronny James has not yet revealed the talent that would predestine him for a long and successful NBA career. In the preseason games, he showed good defensive skills, but revealed efficiency problems with his shots. Almost all experts agree that someone else with the same measurements and skills but a different surname would probably not have been drafted.
"There's going to be a lot of outside noise about Bronny," predicted longtime NBA coach Stan Van Gundy, predicting a difficult season for the Lakers. "If he doesn't play, people will demand that he play with LeBron. If he plays, people will say he doesn't deserve to play." Another facet: The new Lakers coach J.J. Reddick, who was installed in the summer, is a buddy of James. The two started the podcast "Mind The Game" together in March 2024. There are already many doubts as to whether Reddick can make important decisions objectively with this close relationship.
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