ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski doesn’t necessarily think an NBA team will draft Bronny James for the sole purpose to land LeBron James in free agency.
While Bronny James has yet to officially decide whether to stay in the draft or return to school, there’s buzz about his potential stock. After going through the combine, there were mixed reviews but some see the potential.
So if LeBron does return to the Lakers, Los Angeles might not actually draft Bronny like originally suggested.
“I don’t think it’s going to be to get LeBron,” Wojnarowski said on Pardon My Take. “I think it’ll be because they see some value in him. I don’t think you know, Rich Paul has said this to me since March, maybe February.. And he said on the record, like, this isn’t about pairing them up. They want to find the best place for Bronny, a place that’s focused on development, that has a good track record as a young player.
“The Lakers are not really a developmental-like program. They’re a win now team right? And so their thing was, if it lines up, it’s organic, and it happens, great, but the mission isn’t to get them together.”
Bronny James could make it on his own in NBA
Certain teams would have limitations in bringing in LeBron James, due to money, if they wanted to pair him with his son.
“And like you know, if LeBron or, if Bronny goes to … Toronto, Charlotte, Indiana … Is it a team that … they’d have to force a trade, right, because free agency is not going to work,” Wojnarowski said. “They’re not going to have cap space. He’s gonna be a $50-$60 million player. I don’t think it’s about that.
“I saw Bronny play last year in person in Portland at the Nike Hoop Summit. He’s a real prospect. He’s not a superstar. He’s a role player but he does a lot of things really well. He’s smart, he really guards like, great court sense, how you would imagine LeBron’s son to be. Just incredible basketball IQ, you know, athletic enough. He really shot the ball well yesterday, like it’s not a stretch to imagine him in the NBA.”
Bronny James was criticized a bit for lack of superstar production in college while still getting NBA looks. Sure, people can blame nepotism, but Wojnarowski maintained Bronny James is good enough to play in the NBA.
“Do I think he’s an NBA star? No,” Wojnarowski said. “But there are a lot of role players who look exactly the same as Bronny James at that age. But he has the heart issue. He missed five months of playing and so then he’s limited in the production at USC, but if anybody took five months off, I’m sure there’s a mental hurdle in returning from that.
“But he looked great yesterday (at the combine). I don’t think though selecting him or signing him is people think it’s a ticket to LeBron. I don’t feel that.”
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