Lakers News: How Bronny James Declaring For Draft Puts LA Into "Awkward Situation"

Why one expert thinks the Purple and Gold essentially need to address the younger James' future.

Dec 10, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans guard Bronny James (6) between his teammates and his family. / Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

All-Star Los Angeles Lakers combo forward LeBron James' son, soon-to-be-ex-USC Trojans combo guard Bronny James, could be joining his pops at Crypto.com Arena next season. Though he didn't have a particularly strong college run, averaging 4.8 points on .366/.267/.676 shooting splits, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 25 games, the fact that he's the son of one of the game's best players ever makes his status as a draft prospect intriguing.

On his program The Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio's Doug Gottlieb (h/t to Wil Leitner of Fox Sports for the transcription) broke down how James' decision to declare for the draft (while maintaining his NCAA eligibility) could potentially put the Lakers into a strange position of, in Gottlieb's mind, essentially having to draft him rather than waiting for him to be available as an undrafted free agent.

"Bronny declaring for the draft puts the Lakers in that awkward situation of, ‘Are we really going to do this??’ And you kind of have to," Gottlieb concedes. "You don’t want to do the ‘F U’ to LeBron, ‘Hey we’re not going to draft your son but we’ll sign him as a free agent and see it he makes it in camp!’"

"He declares for the NBA draft but everybody knows he’s not close to being an NBA-ready player. I defend it by telling you I can name 15 guys that got drafted as ‘favors’. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen at many places in the NBA, but I actually have sympathy and empathy for Bronny, like‘we’re really going to do this??’I guess... I know the Antetokounmpo brothers can’t play, and they look like they’re dribbling with their elbows, but we’re talking about Bronny James. It’s gotta be rough to be Bronny James anyway, like he didn’t ask for the negative or even the positive attention. He’s not a ‘look at me’ guy, but his dad is setting himself up for I guess ‘success,' but this is not Ken Griffey Jr, it's just not. It does call into question the Lakers and how the Lakers have at least previously always been about winning. LeBron has earned the right to do this, but do you want to use it to make sure your son gets in the NBA when no one thinks reasonably he’s ready or good enough at this point, and not sure he’ll be ready or good enough at ANY point.”

Ken Griffey Sr. was a multi-time All-Star, but his son eclipsed him, emerging as a Hall of Fame talent. The two briefly even played on the same team, the Seattle Mariners, together. No NBA father-son duo has repeated the feat.

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