USC Basketball: Former All-Star Guard Makes Sees A Different All-Star In Bronny James

Could the incoming freshman become an All-Star NBA talent like his dad?

Former 11-year NBA pro Gilbert Arenas likes what he's seen out of the game of incoming USC freshman shooting guard Bronny James, as he detailed during a conversation with Dan Patrick on Patrick's eponymous podcast this spring.

Arenas draws some interesting parallels between Bronny's defense-first approach and that of a 2023 All-Defensive First Team point guard and 2021 NBA champion, Milwaukee Bucks All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday (a UCLA alum).

“He reminds me more of an athletic Jrue Holiday," Arenas said. "Very smart, he’s a very smart kid. His downfall, and it’s a positive for a coach, he’s very unselfish, he’s not the type that would try to go out there and score 40. At his height, he can be a 19, 7 and 7 type of player. He’s Jrue Holiday, lockdown defender, he’ll make big plays when he needs to, he’s going to be the perfect second option.”

Holiday's no slouch on offense, either. Across 67 contests last season for the top-seeded Milwaukee, the 6'4" vet averaged 19.3 points on .479/.384/.859 shooting splits, 7.4 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals a night.

Arenas, a three-time All-Star and All-NBA point guard while with the Washington Wizards, enjoyed a lucrative-if-brief run as one of the league's more unexpected luminaries, after the Golden State Warriors drafted him with the No. 31 pick out of Arizona in 2001. He was eventually felled by major injuries and, uh, some unfortunate locker room storage decisions.