Lakers face skepticism after drafting Bronny James 55th overall | First Things First
Nick Wright, Kevin Wildes and Chris Broussard react to the Los Angeles Lakers selection of Bronny James in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft.
With Bronny James now on the Los Angeles Lakers, many fans are wondering when he’s going to be on the court with his father, LeBron James, as he begins his professional journey.
But ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski thinks fans need to temper their expectations if they believe the father-son duo will be out on the court all season long.
It may happen during the first week, but the G League is likely where Bronny James will see most of his playing time.
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Bronny James of the Los Angeles Lakers poses for a portrait on July 2, 2024, at UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo, California. (Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images)
"Well, what the Lakers’ expectations are is he’ll largely be a G League player like almost any 19-year-old player coming into the league drafted in the second round," Wojnarowski said on ESPN’s "SportsCenter." "What you’ll ultimately probably see is Bronny James in the first week of the season on the court with his father in a very – I don’t want to call it ceremonial, but the eyes of the world will be on that.
"They’ll do that the first week of the season, but there’s no expectation Bronny is going to be in the Lakers’ rotation."
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Wojnarowski noted that the South Bay Lakers, the G League affiliate for the organization, shares the same practice facility with the NBA squad.
Bronny, the 55th overall pick of this year’s draft, signed a four-year deal worth $7.9 million with the Lakers. He will reportedly don the jersey for the first time in Las Vegas during Summer League play.
Bronny James, the 55th overall pick of this year’s draft, signed a four-year deal worth $7.9 million with the Lakers. (Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images)
In turn, the James family is set to become the first father-son duo to ever play in the NBA at the same time, let alone the same team. As Wojnarowski pointed out, that feat could be accomplished in the first week of the regular season, where the Lakers may want to get it out of the way before sending Bronny down to develop in the G League.
During his introductory press conference, Bronny mentioned that he wasn’t able to "showcase what I can really do" during his freshman season at USC. It didn’t go as planned, especially after suffering a cardiac arrest while working out on campus, prolonging his college debut.
Once he was on the floor, Bronny averaged less than five points per game while starting six of his 25 games played for the Trojans. He averaged 19.3 minutes per game when he was healthy.
Bronny James of the Los Angeles Lakers speaks with the media during a press conference at UCLA Health Training Center on July 2, 2024, in El Segundo, California. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
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It remains to be seen how Bronny develops, but like Wojnarowski mentioned, the G League is designed to develop players, especially those drafted in the second round.
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