It was the dream that LeBron James first floated a couple of years in the past, the notion of taking part in in the NBA alongside one of his sons.
And it is 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 Thursday by the Los Angeles Lakers, the group that his father has performed for since 2018. Bronny James was taken with the No. 55 total pick, deep in the second spherical and with solely three picks remaining in this 12 months’s draft.
Adding additional intrigue to the transfer: LeBron James can develop into a free agent subsequent week, which suggests he might select to depart the Lakers and signal elsewhere.
The draft transfer would not assure that father and son will truly play in a recreation collectively, nor does it even assure that Bronny James shall be on the Lakers’ roster subsequent season. But it actually raises the chance that it might occur in what can be an NBA first — a father-son on-court duo in the league concurrently as gamers. There have been about 100 cases 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.
But LeBron James’ unimaginable longevity — he’ll match Vince Carter for the longest profession as an NBA participant ever this coming season, which shall be his twenty second in the league — makes the father-son duo attainable.
“With the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA draft, the Los Angeles Lakers choose Bronny James from the University of Southern California,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum stated in asserting the pick, 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 would make him one of the shortest gamers in the NBA, however his athleticism and defensive capability helped give him this chance.
He performed one 12 months of school basketball at USC and averaged 4.8 factors, 2.8 rebounds and a pair of.1 assists per recreation final season. He performed in 25 video games, lacking the beginning of the season after needing a process final 12 months to repair what was recognized as a congenital coronary heart defect, which was discovered after he went into cardiac arrest throughout a summer season exercise.
A panel of medical doctors 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 — received the eye that the No. 55 choice acquired, for apparent causes.
The 55th pick hardly ever seems to be a participant who captures a slew of consideration. The finest 55th pick in NBA historical past can be present Miami Heat guard Patty Mills, chosen in 2009 and somebody who has scored 7,893 factors in his 15-season profession.
Some different notable No. 55 picks embrace Marc Iavaroni, Mark Blount, Kenny Gattison and E’Twaun Moore. There’s by no means been a No. 55 pick that was an NBA All-Star, an All-NBA participant, an All-Rookie group participant or an All-Defensive group pick.
Last season’s No. 55 pick, Isaiah Wong, scored precisely two factors for Indiana as a rookie. Add up each No. 55 pick 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.
