USC Basketball: Bronny James Lands With LA's Biggest Rival in Latest Mock Draft

The former USC guard is slated to go to this Laker rival in a post-NBA Combine mock draft.

May 15, 2024; Chicago, IL, USA; Bronny James participates in the 2024 NBA Draft Combine at Wintrust Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Former USC Trojans guard Bronny James is making significant strides in his NBA draft journey. According to ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo, their latest post-NBA Combine 2024 mock draft has James projected to be drafted late in the second round by the Los Angeles Lakers' biggest rival, the Boston Celtics. 

Woo and Givony have the Celtics drafting James with the No. 54 overall pick. 

Bronny James' strong combine has him back in our latest 2024 NBA mock draft 👀

Full mock by @DraftExpress and @JeremyWoo is on @ESPNPlus 🔗 https://t.co/rmtXEUcbre pic.twitter.com/5t0XPtXtDd

— ESPN (@espn) May 22, 2024

In a recent interview on ESPN's NBA Today, Givony said it was a positive week for James in the NBA Draft Combine and that he loved into the late second round. 

Went on NBA Today to talk about Bronny James' positive week at the NBA draft combine, and how he's legitimizing himself as a real NBA prospect in front of a huge audience of NBA executives. pic.twitter.com/gQLCUWRa3v

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) May 16, 2024

Givony went on to say that he is legitimizing himself as an NBA prospect and is showing he is more than the son of Lakers superstar and NBA icon LeBron James. 

The Lakers have been linked to being interested in Bronny, but if this latest mock draft becomes a reality, that would be something to witness. LeBron will be a free agent this summer, and there are teams in the league who believe he would follow his son wherever he goes—is Boston possibly one of those teams? Who knows, but if that's the case, the chances of LeBron leaving L.A. for Boston are ridiculously low. 

Nonetheless, Bronny is proving to NBA teams that he can hold his own and be a surprise in this year's draft. This class is one of the weaker ones in recent years, but like every year, a surprise player always makes a name for himself. Bronny could do just that. 

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