NEW YORK – So shall it be said, so shall it be done.
The King and the Prince united, not only at home but also at employer, when the Los Angeles Lakers selected LeBron James Jr., aka Bronny James, to pair with his father, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
Assuming the two play together (James has a player option), they will be the first father-son duo to share the court in NBA history.
It took some coaxing and perhaps even some threats, at least reportedly from Rich Paul. Paul is James Sr.’s super agent and childhood friend, and he apparently told teams that were thinking about signing Bronny that he would play in Australia rather than for the team that drafted him — except when it came to the Lakers.
Bronny was not among the eight players in attendance that the NBA set up in a makeshift green room at ESPN’s Seaport location in New York — the first time the NBA had held its draft in several days, with the second round taking place Thursday afternoon.
Bronny, apparently, was the biggest name of the available players, along with Kyle Filipowski. Filipowski, the Duke center who was the only man left in the green room Thursday night, was selected by the Utah Jazz with the second pick of the second round.
On the court, Bronny James is said to be mature and a good defender with an improving jump shot. He doesn’t have his father’s enormous height or otherworldly athletic ability, but he is a top-notch athlete and appears to be a smart player.
If he can be harnessed, perhaps the 19-year-old can become a rotation player with the right environment, coaching and development, the same thing most teams say about late second-round picks.
And players with family names have more opportunities, more looks than those who don’t have that pedigree; It’s just not as advertised. And at some point, Bronny James will have to sink or swim on his own merits, and then we can truly judge him.
Over the past few months, the eldest James had strayed from his stated goal of wanting to play with his son. It wasn’t a demand or a desire, as we had been led to believe, and Bronny James’ future was his own, not the result of the machinations of his agent or his father.
That doesn’t seem to be entirely true at the moment, and it’s nothing more than normal agent maneuvering, in a way. Agents steer their clients into and out of desirable and undesirable situations routinely this time of year. In fact, Ron Holland didn’t work out in Detroit before being drafted fifth overall, and new Pistons president Trajan Langdon admitted that agents didn’t want their players to work out for that particular franchise, likely because of the turmoil of the past few years.
And speaking of nepotism, that franchise has it at high levels. Pistons vice president Arn Tellem has ensured that his son, Eric Tellem, has a high-ranking role on the Pistons front office. And so much confusion in the days leading up to the draft led the Pistons to be linked to Matas Buzelis, who is represented by Michael Tellem, another of Arn Tellem’s sons.
Nepotism, or at least the appearance of it, happens all the time in this league, and it happens in plain sight if we’re willing to look. It doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s anything nefarious going on, it just means that it exists and there’s no reason to pretend.
When LeBron is involved and has openly stated that he wants to play with Bronny, it feels different. Bronny James has only worked out for two teams: the Lakers and the Phoenix Suns, and he has turned down invitations elsewhere.
So this was totally manipulated and it’s okay to feel a little weird about it. It’s a spectacle now, a show and it’s not about competition or fairness anymore.
We were all taken for fools for believing anything other than what James has shown us for years, wanting to control the conversation and the narrative.
Not to mention that last summer, Bronny James suffered a cardiac arrest during a USC open race. Just seeing him back on the court was a miracle in itself, even if his numbers and production didn’t overwhelm anyone in his lone season at Southern California.
What happens now?
LeBron’s podcast partner, JJ Redick, is now the Lakers’ coach, and both claim the future Hall of Famer didn’t have much to do with the sloppy and confusing process that unsurprisingly concluded with the ESPN analyst being named coach shortly after the NBA Finals ended.
He’s now playing alongside his son in who knows what role because we’ve seen very little of Bronny James to determine his readiness at this level. Most of the highlights shown of the young James were from the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago because he’s an unknown.
The Lakers are a family organization. The Buss family, the Rambis family and now, the James family. If there’s one organization that couldn’t make fun of a star who wanted this particular wish, it’s the Lakers.
One wonders where winning fits into this equation for LeBron James right now. For a team to take advantage of Bronny James with the 55th pick isn’t costing them much (Bronny is as unknown as the players dozens of spots above him), but the Lakers intend to tell everyone how serious they are. to win. and regain his place on the mountain of NBA winners.
But since winning the bubble championship in 2020, the Lakers have participated in five playoff series and finished 2-3 in them, going through more coaches than successes.
James continues his assault on the record books, putting more statistical distance between himself and those behind him by sheer longevity, but he appears further away from winning anything substantial than at any other point in his career, or at least since he became a grown man in his final years in Cleveland.
His appetite, which wants everything to be in order, is as insatiable as it is exhausting and seems impossible to achieve.
A fifth championship in this crowded Western Conference that has no room for old guys is becoming increasingly difficult, but getting more max money with the Lakers is easily achievable.
Playing with his son, making some memorable passes and alley-oops, that sure looks fun, probable and Instagram-worthy.
At some point, James will retire, take his equity and use it to buy a significant stake in a franchise, perhaps taking Bronny with him.
It’s the James way, or better yet, the American way.
Just look around.
