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The inevitable happened on Thursday when Klutch Sports’ machinations and demands ensured Bronny James ended up being drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers. Now the impossible will have to occur for him to succeed there.
That LeBron James’ son and namesake would end up in L.A. was always the plan. Former Golden State Warriors President of Basketball Operations Bob Myers said the quiet part out loud on Thursday on ESPN’s draft coverage, sharing that “Rich Paul is calling teams … he’s telling them, do not take (Bronny). If you take him, he’s going to Australia.”
That warning was also surely a threat. Sure, the message went, you wouldn’t get Bronny anyway. But it was also clearly a way to say, without saying it, that drafting Bronny James would make you persona non grata with Klutch Sports, a headache no organization or ambitious GM needs.
Nothing better sums up the lengths LeBron James has gone to in order to ensure Bronny would be a Laker. Bronny’s story — his near-death experience, his famous name, the fact he wouldn’t have been drafted if it weren’t for his father, and the upside he still has as a player — was always going to include an early chapter about playing with his dad in L.A.
LeBron Sr. is opting out of the final year of his Lakers contract but is expected to sign a new deal and stay in L.A. He wouldn’t have it any other way, which was the inevitable part of this saga.
It’s the near-impossible part — the next step — that will matter most going forward and largely shape Bronny’s odds of succeeding, long though they may already be.
Because for his son to succeed, LeBron James will have to do what for him will be the most difficult and rare of things during his sparkling career: Cede the power he’s accumulated and let others take it from here.
He has to fight the urge to interfere with his son’s time as a Laker.
That means operating in the exact opposite way to what got Bronny to the Lakers in the first place.
The Bronny reality is a complicated one. On the one hand, he clearly is not NBA ready, a fact several NBA…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/why-bronny-james-success-with-the-lakers-could-depend-on-lebron-getting-out-of-the-way/
Author : Bill Reiter
Publish date : 2024-06-29 17:09:38
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