Bronny James admits his dad LeBron had no influence in Lakers drafting him

Bronny James was drafted as the 55th pick in the NBA after playing in USC for one year.

Bronny James admits his dad LeBron had no influence in Lakers drafting him

LeBron James and Bronny James

LeBron James once admitted his desire to play alongside his son in the NBA. Considering James is the oldest player in the league, the star does not have much time to fulfill his desire. Hence, when Bronny James entered the NBA draft after only playing in college for one year, many believed that the reason was his dad.

However, the 19-year-old denied the rumors during his first press conference for the Los Angeles Lakers. LeBron James and Bronny James will be the first father-son duo to be teammates in the NBA. However, upon asking if that was his aim after all, Bronny denied the claims.

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I never really had a thought of me going to play with my dad. But that's always there to take part of. But wasn't the main focus of mine.
Bronny James said

Bronny explained that he wants to be responsible for ‘getting his name out’. Coming from college, Bronny wants to ‘get better’ and improve as he was told that the Lakers have a great development system by Rob Pelinka. Bronny did admit that playing with his dad was considered, but that was not his main goal.

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Many believed that James was responsible for Bronny getting selected by the Lakers considering his underwhelming performance at USC. The guard’s poor stats were the reason Bronny had to wait until the second round. Bronny certainly needs a lot of improvement as he would be under pressure to play with one of the biggest names in the league.

LeBron James left the decision to Bronny as the Lakers were eliminated

James’ future with the Lakers was in question this season as the star had the option to enter free agency. Considering the Lakers were almost swept in the first round, many believed that James might try his chances somewhere else. However, the only string that was holding James was Bronny potentially joining the Lakers.

But that was also not the case as James admitted the decision was completely up to Bronny. Despite his desire to play with his son, James wanted Bronny to choose his own path. The 39-year-old stated this before Bronny announced the draft as the Lakers were eliminated. 

I haven’t given it much thought lately, obviously I thought about it in the past. At the end of the day, the kid has to do what he wants to do. I don’t even want to say kid no more, the young man will decide what he wants to do and how he wants his career to go.
LeBron James said in the press conference

Intentionally or unintentionally, it is safe to say that the father-son has both gotten what they wanted. James will get to play with his before retiring and Bronny gets to fulfill his dream of playing in the NBA. It would certainly be interesting to see the duo play next to each other creating history in the league.

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