There is a ton of attention being paid to the Los Angeles Lakers selection of Bronny James with the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. But that is what comes with being the son of arguably the greatest player in NBA history in LeBron James.
History will be made with Bronny and LeBron being the first father-son duo to play in the NBA at the same time and the Lakers are happy to be part of that history. But Bronny James is a basketball player and general manager Rob Pelinka and the Lakers are believers in the type of player he can become in this league.
Pelinka spoke on Bronny’s skillset after the Lakers drafted him, seeing him as a strong defender who is becoming a better shooter, via Mike Trudell of Lakers.com:
“The road to ultimate victory in the NBA is with two-way players that can be great defenders and can be shot makers on offense,” explained Pelinka. “If you’re able to develop guys like that and surround your superstar players with them, that’s a good recipe for success. Bronny’s of that ilk. I think he’s going to be a point-of-attack defender that can really be disruptive with the way he guards other teams’ point guards. I think he can guard multiple positions. And we’ve really seen growth in shooting I think at the Combine when we were there with the scouting staff. He was one of the leaders in making some of his shots in some of the drills. We really think he can turn into being an elite shot maker. Just a 3-and-D player, for sure.”
Bronny’s 6’7 wingspan helps to make up for his height as he measured at just under 6’2 at the NBA Draft Combine. But he is also well-built at 210 pounds and a great athlete, leaning into Pelinka’s belief about his ability to guard multiple positions at the NBA level. Additionally, despite less than ideal shooting numbers at USC, he was one of the top shooters at the combine as well so he could be improving there.
Pelinka would continue on about Bronny’s growth potential, especially on the offensive side of the ball which he believes could’ve taken a hit because of the time he was forced to take off:
“I think he had a really strong defensive year at USC in terms of being that point-of-attack hound on the ball,” said Pelinka. “But maybe because of the significant amount of time he took off, the offensive flow wasn’t what it could be. And so I think polishing that back up, getting him back in an offensive rhythm is going to really catapult him back into getting the trajectory of being that development player that we really look forward to having.”
The cardiac incident Bronny experienced last summer severely impacted his ability to practice, train and develop. There is always the chance that James just isn’t a good shooter and will struggle with that throughout his career, but the Lakers will make sure he puts in the work to develop that as much as possible.
Add in Bronny’s abilities as a playmaker and his obvious feel for the game that he inherited from his dad and the framework for an effective NBA player is there. It will simply be up to Bronny to put in the work, and the Lakers to put him in the right situations, to get the best out of him.
