College Basketball Insider Makes Curious Bronny James, USC Prediction

The Bronny James hype is picking up steam ahead of his collegiate debut for the USC Trojans, but one insider threw a bit of cold water on the day-one outlook.

Heading into the 2023-24 college basketball season, there may not be a bigger storyline or more noteworthy player grabbing the attention of fans than Bronny James. The son of LeBron James is joining USC and is widely viewed as one of the most intriguing, talented and on-the-rise names to watch in college hoops.

While Bronny's debut for the Trojans will have the attention of most general basketball fans, CBS Sports insider Jon Rothstein believes fans may have to wait ... at least a few minutes before seeing him play in the team's first game. This week, Rothstein revealed his projected starting lineup for USC this season.

Early prediction on USC's 2023-24 starting five:

Isaiah Collier, Boogie Ellis, Kobe Johnson, DJ Rodman, Joshua Morgan

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 11, 2023

No 'Bronny' or 'James' listed there, obviously, although it appears fans had varying opinions in terms of their reactions. Some seem to think there's virtually no way Bronny will come off the bench:

Jon thinks Klutch and Lebron are gonna let little Bronny come off the bench pic.twitter.com/OYKfJaJhgk

— Willy Donovan (@willgtg901) July 11, 2023

While others actually think it's the right move to have Bronny play a sixth-man role and even possibly battle it out with another player like Joshua Morgan for a starting role in the process.

Bronny needs to start the year as 6th man, I’m interested to see how Vince developed this off-season and if he can battle Morgan for the job although I like them both

— Greenskeeper (@Jack08548244) July 12, 2023

Time will tell whether this prediction proves to be true, but regardless, there should be no shortage of playing time for Bronny, and he certainly has plenty of upside when he's on the floor.