It was the dream that LeBron James first floated just a few years in the past, the notion of enjoying within the NBA alongside one among his sons. And it’s a step nearer to actuality now.
Bronny James, the oldest son of the NBA’s all-time scoring chief and four-time champion, was drafted on Thursday by the Los Angeles Lakers, the workforce that his father has performed for since 2018.
Bronny James was taken with the No. 55 total decide, deep within the second spherical and with solely three picks remaining on this yr’s draft.
Including additional intrigue to the transfer: LeBron James can grow to be a free agent subsequent week, which implies he may select to go away the Lakers and signal elsewhere.
LeBron’s son Bronny James not picked in Spherical 1; Spherical 2 awaits
The draft transfer doesn’t assure that father and son will really play in a recreation collectively, nor does it even assure that Bronny James might be on the Lakers’ roster subsequent season.
Nevertheless it actually raises the chance that it may occur in what can be an NBA first — a father-son on-court duo within the league concurrently as gamers.
There have been about 100 situations in NBA historical past of gamers becoming a member of the league after their fathers performed, however these all the time got here no less than 5 years after the daddy’s profession ended.
However LeBron James’ unimaginable longevity — he’ll match Vince Carter for the longest profession as an NBA participant ever this coming season, which might be his twenty second within the league — makes the father-son duo doable.
“With the fifty fifth decide within the 2024 NBA draft, the Los Angeles Lakers choose Bronny James from the College of Southern California,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum mentioned in saying the decide, making the second official for the 19-year-old, who was born simply earlier than the beginning of his father’s second NBA season.
Bronny James is a guard, one who was listed at 6-foot-4 on Southern California’s roster however measured at 6 ft, 1 1/2 inches on the draft mix.
That will make him one of many shortest gamers within the NBA, however his athleticism and defensive means helped give him this chance.
He performed one yr of school basketball at USC and averaged 4.8 factors, 2.8 rebounds and a couple of.1 assists per recreation final season. He performed in 25 video games, lacking the beginning of the season after needing a process final yr to repair what was identified as a congenital coronary heart defect, which was discovered after he went into cardiac arrest throughout a summer season exercise.
A panel of docs cleared Bronny James for NBA play final month.
Day 2 of the draft noticed 24 different gamers get taken earlier than Bronny James, although none of them — not even shut, actually — bought the eye that the No. 55 choice obtained, for apparent causes.
The fifty fifth decide not often seems to be a participant who captures a slew of consideration. The very best fifty fifth decide in NBA historical past can be present Miami Warmth guard Patty Mills, chosen in 2009 and somebody who has scored 7,893 factors in his 15-season profession.
Another notable No. 55 picks embody Marc Iavaroni, Mark Blount, Kenny Gattison and E’Twaun Moore. There’s by no means been a No. 55 decide that was an NBA All-Star, an All-NBA participant, an All-Rookie workforce participant or an All-Defensive workforce decide.
Final season’s No. 55 decide, Isaiah Wong, scored precisely two factors for Indiana as a rookie. Add up each No. 55 decide ever, and their NBA profession scoring whole is 28,364 factors — greater than 12,000 factors lower than LeBron James has scored in his profession.