Bronny James is a LAKER! LeBron’s son is drafted by Los Angeles in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft after coming off USC’s bench for a year

Bronny James is heading to the Los Angeles Lakers to group up together with his father, LeBron.

The Lakers chosen Bronny within the second spherical of the 2024 NBA Draft with the fifty fifth general choose.

The choice comes after weeks of hypothesis over the place Bronny could be chosen within the NBA Draft – with alternatives starting from the primary spherical to not being drafted in any respect.

However now, Bronny — who performed with USC final season — will likely be with a basketball group in Los Angeles.

Bronny’s solely season in school basketball proved to be very disappointing when the McDonald’s All-American suffered a cardiac arrest whereas training in July 2023. He was cleared to return to the courtroom, however performed solely 19.4 minutes in 25 video games for the Trojans, averaging simply 4.8 factors per sport.

There was a number of debate main as much as this 12 months’s draft about whether or not or not Bronny was able to play within the NBA.

However the LA Lakers determined they’d seen sufficient and chosen the 19-year-old regardless of his restricted school expertise and stats.

The Los Angeles Lakers opted to not use their first-round choose to draft LeBron's eldest son, who was snubbed out of the primary spherical altogether on Wednesday night time.

On Thursday, the 19-year-old was noticed getting out of a automotive in New York, sporting pink sneakers and an identical sweater over her shoulder.

The primary spherical of the draft was held in a glittering ceremony on the Barclays Heart in Brooklyn, the place Zaccari Risachar grew to become the second French participant to be chosen first in two years.

That is the primary time in historical past that the NBA Draft is a two-day occasion. The ceremony on Thursday will likely be a small ceremony held in New York Metropolis's Seaport District.

Bronny will now hope to develop into one of many few sons to have performed alongside his father in skilled sports activities.

Another examples embody Ken Griffey Jr. taking part in baseball alongside his father Ken Griffey Sr. for the Seattle Mariners within the Nineties, whereas Mark and Marty Howe performed alongside their legendary father Gordie for the Hartford Whalers within the Seventies and Eighties.

Although he’s the son of a future Corridor of Famer, Bronny’s resume doesn’t evaluate to that of his well-known father.

For starters, his father skipped the NCAA degree in 2003 as a result of the NBA had not but applied its controversial one-and-done rule, which required candidates to be one 12 months away from graduating from their highschool class earlier than changing into eligible for the draft.

At that time, LeBron was starting to be seen as a generational expertise, able to competing with the NBA's finest gamers lengthy earlier than he was even eligible to vote.

However Bronny has by no means been thought-about the 'subsequent LeBron,' neither is he some weaker model of the Los Angeles Lakers famous person. As a substitute, the combo guard is totally his personal participant.

Bronny has all the time been a significant a part of LeBron's actions alongside together with his mom, Savannah — LeBron's highschool sweetheart from Akron — and his youthful siblings, Bryce and Zhuri.

But it surely wasn’t till 2019, when he enrolled at Sierra Canyon alongside the son of his father’s former teammate Dwyane Wade, that Bronny started garnering consideration for his sport.

Bronny has since grown to six toes 3 inches tall and weighed 180 kilos, significantly smaller than his 6-foot-9-inch father.

As just lately as 2023 — earlier than his coronary heart assault — Bronny was considered by many as a first-round expertise.

“As most of his friends have underperformed over the past 12 to 18 months, James has grown and crammed out his body, discovered one other gear together with his explosiveness and has develop into an absolute terror with out the ball defensively due to his excellent depth and really feel for the sport,” NBA draft guru Jonathan Givony wrote for ESPN in March 2023.

'He nonetheless has a number of room to enhance his ballhandling and pull-up jumper to develop into a extra profitable and environment friendly shot creator, however he has already caught the eye of NBA decision-makers with the best way he contributes to wins and can doubtless proceed to enhance his sport.'

Bronny's efficiency was deemed adequate to qualify him for the 2023 McDonald's All-American Sport together with two different NBA gamers: Andrej Stojakovic, the son of Peja, and DJ Wagner, the son of LeBron's former teammate DaJuan.

“His vertical skill has improved as a lot as another child within the class,” Brandon Clay, a member of McDonald's voting committee, informed USA At this time's Josh Peter.

“Each time I've seen him play dwell, he's been actually good,” Clay added. “He's performed nice tournaments. He all the time appears like he must be on the desk. He by no means appears misplaced.”

Lately, scouting businesses ranked Bronny anyplace from 34 (247 Sports activities) to twenty-eight (ESPN) earlier than he joined USC, which didn’t assist his draft standing.

“Bronny James is an undersized combo guard, however he makes up for his lack of peak together with his sturdy physique, glorious athleticism, and quickness,” mentioned the Draft Digest scouting report after Bronny's single school season.

'He boasts fast, highly effective vertical pop and strikes nicely on each ends. Given his age and genetics, it's price keeping track of James' peak because it wouldn't be shocking to see him develop a number of inches.'