Opinion
LeBron James is doing his son a disservice by saying he will switch teams to join whichever franchise drafts Bronny.
As hard as it would be to say so, he should be saying the opposite.
By saying he would link up with whichever team his son lands on, it only adds to the pressure on the now 17-year-old prospect that he is only in the NBA because of his old man.
Those calls will happen anyway but now there’s a likelihood that a team will take his son higher than what they otherwise would have if it means they get a year or two of LeBron.
Even though he will be around 40 if/when his son ever steps on an NBA arena, the publicity, ticket and merchandise sales, not to mention the on-court ability LeBron brings, will be enough to have franchise executives salivating.
“My last year will be played with my son,” James said in a recent interview with The Athletic. “Wherever Bronny is at, that’s where I’ll be. I would do whatever it takes to play with my son for one year. It’s not about the money at that point.”
If it happens, it will be the first time in NBA history that a father and son have played in the league in the same season, let alone on the same team.
Bronny won’t be eligible until the 2024 NBA Draft and that is if he becomes a “one and done” player who spends the minimum season in the US College ranks.
Many draft experts at the moment are doubtful over Bronny’s ability to be that good. A guard at 6”3’, he is considered very good among his peer group but unlikely to be chosen in the first round.
Dallas owner Mark Cuban, never shy about giving his opinion, has already publicly stated that the Mavericks wouldn’t even burn a second-round pick on LeBron James jnr.
But that won’t stop a struggling franchise like a Sacramento, Orlando or Detroit, which has been in the doldrums for several seasons from taking a punt on Bronny so they can bring the King to their court. “The King” to the Sacramento Kings – it writes itself.
Of course, he could always skip College to spend a year in the NBL in the Next Star program.
NBL legend Corey “Homicide” Williams cheekily tagged in LeBron in a social media post during the week with artwork showing how nice the James duo would look in Sydney Kings colours.
Bronny should be as used to the spotlight as any high schooler can be. His highlights have been going viral online since he was in junior high.
But the pressure on his shoulders if he gets drafted to a team which also adds his father will be astronomical.
LeBron, who grew up without his father, said a few years ago that he regretted giving his son his name because of the added burden it placed on him.
Of more immediate concern for James should be the Los Angeles Lakers dropping so far out of title contention they’re barely hanging into the play-in game equation in the Western Conference.
They are now just 1.5 games ahead of 10th-placed New Orleans after the surging Pelicans thrashed Sacramento on Thursday 125-95.
The Lakers have lost six of their last seven games despite LeBron doing everything on the floor – he had 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists against Dallas in their last start but with Russell Westbrook yet again living up to his hated “Westbrick” nickname, their late rally came to nothing as they went down by five.
Anthony Davis is still a couple of weeks a couple of weeks away from his latest foot injury. Even when he gets back, LA will be finishing in the West’s play-in zone and an even money chance at best to get past Minnesota or the Clippers into the actual playoffs.
Reports have also emerged in the past few days that Westbrook and the Lakers are already in mutual agreement about trading him in the off-season in news that surprises nobody.
The problem is he still has a $US47 million contract to see out next season so the Lakers’ best result will probably be taking back a couple of smaller but longer bad contracts.
It looks like their 2020-21 Bubble championship success with LeBron and AD will be a one-off and Davis is no guarantee of sticking around if they have to rebuild.
Unless of course it’s the Lakers who end up signing Bronny just so they can keep LeBron in La-La Land for another season or two. Stranger things have happened but that would make the spotlight on Bronny arguably the most intense of any rookie in the history of the NBA.
Lee Olsen is a name that more Australian basketball fans should be familiar with and he received great airplay in the US this week.
Olsen, aka Shift Refresh, is a supremely talented artist who has an extensive portfolio of NBA designs which brilliantly mesh the modern-day stars with the legends of yesteryear.
One such piece of artwork went viral this week when 76ers icon Allen Iverson gave a shout-out on Twitter to Memphis guard Ja Morant, who has been blitzing the NBA this season to move into the MVP conversation.
Iverson posted a pic of his own MVP trophy with a Morant jersey saying “Sooner or Later”.
He replied with “pass the torch OG” with Olsen’s uber cool artwork of Morant and Iverson chatting away in game.
If you aren’t following Lee Olsen, head to his Instagram account now to be blown away.
Saturday – Bucks @ Bulls, 11.30am AEDT
Champions Milwaukee (38-25) are still yet to hit their groove and with the playoffs not far away, this could be a chance for them to make a statement against a Chicago team (39-23) which has benefited from DeMar DeRozan’s Wilt Chamberlain-like recent scoring run.
Sunday – Sixers @ Hear – 12pm AEDT
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