THE SECOND — Media days around the NBA are a wasteland for anyone looking for real information on the docket. Rather, they have the vibe of a PR piece. For example, on Wednesday, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and coach J.J. Redick spoke to the media, and Pelinka said he would be willing to trade the Lakers’ two available first-round picks (2029 and 2031) in a deal that fosters “sustained Lakers excellence.” Which is a lot to say they would do it for the right star player, something everyone around the league has known (and has been written about at length here and elsewhere) since before last February’s trade deadline.
However, there was an interesting story when Pelinka was talking about the NBA’s first father/son duo of LeBron and Bronny James, and the challenges that presents.
“Maybe the challenge is on Bronny when, like in our pickup game, I think it was yesterday or two days ago, he connected with LeBron, and LeBron took him to the baseline and pulled him up and dropped him on the backboard, and the words exchanged afterward were probably more challenging than anything else,” Pelinka said.
Oh, how we wish there was a public video of that! LeBron responded to Pelinka’s quote on Instagram“Great defense. Better O.”
As for when LeBron and Bronny might play together on an NBA court, Redick said there’s nothing formal set in place.
“We don’t have anything planned, per se, in terms of a commitment to do it this way,” Redick said. “Obviously, we’ve talked about it as a team and we’ve hammered out some details of what it could look like, but we haven’t committed to anything. And obviously there will be a discussion that will take place once we’re all together with Bronny and LeBron as well, they should be a part of that discussion as well.”
Many around the league expect the Lakers to play them together for a few minutes early in the season, perhaps on opening night against Minnesota at Crypto.com Arena. The G League season doesn’t start until a couple weeks after the NBA season, and playing family members together early gives Los Angeles a chance to work through this potentially distracting issue and get it out of the way, greatly reducing the questions when Bronny spends the majority of his season with the South Bay Lakers (which is where he needs to develop his game).
Redick had nothing but praise for Bronnie.
“I feel very fortunate to be able to coach Bronnie because he’s young, he’s hungry and he has a lot of innate skills that we can develop into a very good NBA player,” Redick said. “Plus, he’s a fantastic kid. He’s very coachable. He has the right spirit and energy every day.”
That’s what coaches and general managers say about players on media day, in Bronny’s case let’s hope it’s the reality and he develops into a quality player in the future.