Will Bronny James be ready to inherit his father's throne?
By Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Columnist
Bronny James is, by all accounts, a tremendous young basketball player. He’s quick, smart and talented. They say he works ferociously hard. He has court vision, understands team strategy and possesses no shortage of ambition.
All of which means he has a chance at an NBA career. And at least as much chance, if not more, of not making it to the biggest, baddest and most electrifying competition in basketball.
For even four- and five-star recruits, there is no shame if the ultimate call on draft night never comes. It is a case of mathematics. Rivals.com has 130 high school players rated four or five stars this year. Each draft, of course, allows for only 60 selections.
LeBron James could be pushing Bronny early
No matter his level of dedication, no matter that he comes with the most exceptional basketball pedigree possible thanks to his father — this guy called LeBron James, no matter that he already has 6.1 million followers on Instagram, in some ways, the odds are stacked against the young man who currently plays as a high school junior at Sierra Canyon High School in Chatsworth, California.
All of which makes his father’s comments over All-Star Weekend a little … unexpected.
"My last year will be played with my son," James told 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 is not hard to understand where LeBron is coming from. Just as clearly as he has established himself as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, he has made no secret about how much he loves being a dad to his kids: Bronny (17), Bryce (14) and Zhuri (7).
He revels in it. He celebrates his children and cheers for them. He grew up in difficult surroundings, raised by his mother, Gloria, in Akron, Ohio, without his father around. He wants to give his kids every opportunity to thrive. He regards raising his family as a far more important job than being a pro baller, and that’s saying something, given his intense passion for the sport.
And so, for a man like that and with those kinds of priorities, the possibility of mixing the two things he loves most — family and basketball — is almost too good to be true. His final comment on the matter — "it’s not about money at that point" — implies that he would be open to playing for a minimum salary to make it happen. Plenty of NBA teams would like the sound of that.
But while it unfolds like a dream in his mind’s eye, it is a trickier and thornier path than James Sr. might imagine. And unfortunately, by making such a bold proclamation, he might have made his son a marked man.
Basketball competition only gets more intense. High school hoops are serious, but college is infinitely more intense, and by the time even a sniff of the NBA comes into play, it is a brutal cauldron of competitiveness. Players live and walk their own story. No one has the luxury of worrying about anyone else’s feel-good tale in the pursuit of his own pro career. As hard as all the hopefuls fight to get into the league, those already there scrap even harder to stick around.
For Bronny, a 17-year-old, four-star recruit rated 30th in his class by Rivals, trying to fulfill his father’s vision could be a heavy burden to wear.
"What if Bronny’s not ready for the NBA until after his sophomore, junior or even senior year?" FOX’s Chris Broussard said on FS1’s "First Things First." "I don’t think it would be worth rushing Bronny into the league just so that he can get in there when LeBron is still playing, and they can play together."
Clearly, LeBron is not going to do anything to intentionally harm his son’s chances. If it meant giving up on the father-son dream collaboration to give Bronny the best chance to thrive, we can expect that to happen.
Yet it is hard to know how the older James views his own career and its potential for longevity. Under current rules, the earliest Bronny could enter the league would be for the 2024-25 campaign. LeBron James will turn 40 a few months after that season begins. Currently, however, Bronny doesn’t shape up as a one-and-done college prospect. Naturally, given his level of experience, he isn't close to NBA standard and needs time to develop — perhaps several years’ worth of time.
That said, Bronny wouldn’t necessarily need to be among the 60 best players available in order to be drafted. Realistically, a scenario in which he is somewhere near the top 100 of his cohort would leave virtually zero chance of him being left on the board, especially if landing the box office boon of LeBron’s farewell tour were part of the package.
But that would create issues in itself.
"You don’t want to be viewed as you are only on the team because they want your dad," Broussard added. "You don’t want that view in the public, and you don’t want that in the locker room. It’s already got to be tough enough growing up when your dad is the great LeBron James. I just think he needs to let him grow and do his own thing."
Problem is, that’s kind of impossible. Bronny is already firmly in the spotlight and has been ever since it became clear he was interested in a basketball path. There is no chance of him slipping under the radar, whatever he does, wherever he chooses for college, even if he ends up spending time in the G League or Europe. All eyes will be on him. That’s the reality of his life and his career, regardless of how long it lasts or how high it reaches.
There are plenty of benefits to being LeBron James’ son, and no lack of challenges, too. He’s going to be watched even more closely now that a lofty bar has been set. Perhaps LeBron intended it this way, to get him used to the elevated pressure.
Either way, for Bronny James, the journey perhaps just got a little tougher.
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider Newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.
