Bronny James is declaring for
the 2024 NBA Draft, according to
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. James will also enter the NCAA’s transfer
portal to maintain his eligibility and keep his options
open.
It was previously reported that
LeBron James’ eldest son was entering the transfer portal, but now
Bronny’s full plan has come to light.
“The pre-draft plan will be for
James to meet with targeted teams for workouts and interviews prior
to the June 16 deadline to stay in the draft and find out whether
there’s a potential developmental situation — regardless of draft
position — that would make sense for him to stay in the draft,”
writes Wojnarowski.
If Bronny returns to college,
Duke, Ohio State, UCLA, Xavier, and Rutgers are reportedly
the favorites to land him.
Duke, who will have the No.1
overall high-school recruit in Cooper Flagg and Khaman Maluach,
might have the upper hand in landing James Jr. after having some
sort of history with the elder James. He has mentioned in the past
his admiration for the ‘brotherhood’ culture of the Blue Devils as
well as former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who was also James’
coach in Team USA.
James Jr. staying home in LA to
play with UCLA would be an obvious choice, while Ohio State and
Xavier would make sense as well considering the elder James’
childhood roots.
Rutgers on the other hand, will
likely use playing time as their main pitch to try and land the
younger James to pair him with blue-chip recruits in Airious Bailey
(HS no.2 recruit) and Dylan Harper (HS no.3 recruit).
Consequently, this decision by
the younger James will likely have a huge impact on the number of
years his father would still play as his career winds down to a
close. The elder James has expressed his desire to play with his
son at some point in the NBA — perhaps we’ll see them share the
court next season.
