The Los Angeles Lakers have
selected LeBron “Bronny” James Jr. as the 55th overall pick in the
2024 NBA Draft on Thursday afternoon.
The highly controversial son of
the NBA’s all-time leading scorer LeBron James, Bronny drew a lot
of backlash from people surrounding his whole draft process. Some
felt the elder James had been in the shadows pulling the strings to
make this move, after citing since last year about his desire and
dream to play with his son in the NBA.
However, a lot of people also
justified the Lakers’ decision, with former and current NBA players
alike congratulating James and their whole family.
The Lakers mentioned Bronny’s
work ethic in his workouts with the team and his character as
something that the franchise valued. This helped with the decision
to draft the younger James, led by general manager Rob Pelinka and
newly-hired head coach JJ Redick.
The 6-foot-2, 210 lbs pound
guard out of USC has had a rocky start to his basketball career,
including suffering a cardiac arrest last year from a congenital
heart disease. Since then, James Jr. has had to return to the
court, training vigorously. He successfully played, was cleared by
USC’s medical team, and averaged modest stats in
college.
Now, Bronny is set to play for
LA alongside his father LeBron. The duo are set to become the first
father-son duo to play in the NBA at the same time, and this
fulfills the elder James’ dream and legacy by playing together with
his eldest son.
