Bronny James is a glitzy addition, but not an impactful one for a Lakers team in desperate need for upgrades

Bronny James is, in many ways, the quintessential addition of the post-2020 championship Los Angeles Lakers. Think of all of the big names they’ve added to the roster since then. The ill-fated Andre Drummond signing of 2021. The Russell Westbrook disaster that followed. Minimum signings like Carmelo Anthony and DeAndre Jordan. Reunions with aging champions Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard. The Lakers of the past few years have been much better at winning press conferences than games.

Bronny is the logical extension of that trend. He is almost inarguably the most famous rookie entering the NBA for the 2024-25 season. The Lakers are justifiably going to make a big spectacle of the NBA’s first ever father-son duo, assuming the elder LeBron James stays on the team. Take this for what it’s worth, but it seems odd to me that there has been no reporting about his player option decision as of roughly 9 p.m. ET on Thursday night. Regardless, the Lakers love being attached to fame and history.

But fame doesn’t equal success. Bronny fell to No. 55 for reasons that extended beyond Rich Paul’s Australia threats. He was a late second-round pick because he was a late second-round prospect, and while there are obvious exceptions, late second-round prospects rarely impact short-term championship pursuits.

Does this mean the Lakers shouldn’t have drafted Bronny? Of course not. The No. 55 pick was a low-upside asset anyway, so fame aside, using it to potentially keep your best player happy and tied to the franchise is pretty reasonable. With time and seasoning, Bronny could potentially grow into an independently valuable NBA player. His high school career alone was going to get him a chance in the NBA, either with the Lakers or someone else. His name had value to the Lakers. His game had value within fringe NBA circuits. So by all means, take him at No. 55. The pick itself is pretty harmless.

It’s what the pick represents that starts to make things feel a bit iffier. The Lakers won only 47 games last season. They lost in the first round of the…

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Author : Sam Quinn

Publish date : 2024-06-28 02:10:48

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