Bronny James says the chance to play professionally alongside his father LeBron James had no role in his choice to join the NBA draft.
Now that he has been chosen by the Los Angeles Lakers, Bronny says he can still deal with all the extra attention and expectations as the James family makes basketball history.
“I’m … trying to get my name out for myself,” Bronny said Tuesday. “I just want to come in and get my work in and get better every day. I never really had a thought of me going to play with my dad. That’s always there to take part of, but it wasn’t a main focus of mine.”
The Lakers formally introduced Bronny James and their first-round pick, Tennessee wing Dalton Knecht, in a news conference at their training complex. They chose home with the 55th overall pick last week, creating the potential for an NBA first.
No father and son have ever played in the NBA at the same time, let alone on the same team.
Bronny repeated that he did not join the NBA because his 39-year-old father is still an active player. He acknowledged that he did not share his father’s oft-stated dream of playing in the league together.
He also knew that he could not control where he was drafted, despite that he read on social media recently about the Lakers’ being a nepotistic effort to keep LeBron James with them for the rest of his career.
Bronny James said he is ready for the challenges ahead of him because of “stuff that “stuff that (LeBron) has been telling me my whole life. Just having that work ethic, and coming in and getting your work in, and listening to your coaches and being coachable, stuff like that he’s driven into my head my whole life.”
He smartly answered questions about everything that he will face after jumping straight to the NBA from one short season of college basketball. He played inconsistently last winter at USC after recovering from a terrifying cardiac event in July 2023.
“The time that I had off, I feel like I could have been perfecting my game more,” Bronny said. “I just feel like I’ve been given the opportunity to showcase what I can really do, because I wasn’t given that much of an opportunity at SC. So I’m excited for what it’s going to be.”
Rather than spending another year in college, Bronny said he expects to improve his game in the Lakers’ player development system new coach JJ Redick is setting up. Redick, emphasised the necessity of developing talent from within the organisation after general manager Rob Pelinka hired him last month.
“Rob and I did not give Bronny anything,” Redick said. “Bronny has earned this through hard work. For us, prioritising player development, we view Bronny as Case Study 1, because his base level of feel, athleticism, point-of-attack defender, shooting, passing, there’s a lot to like about his game. As we build out our player development program holistically, he’s going to have the opportunity to be an excellent NBA player.”
