Bronny James, the son of Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, seemed to be the biggest story at the NBA’s summer league this year. He was taken by the Lakers with the No. 55 pick in last month’s draft, but for obvious reasons, he has been the most talked-about member of this year’s draft class.
He started the summer league poorly, but he played well in his last two games, which has given people hope that perhaps he can be a viable NBA player after all.
While many reports have indicated the younger James has humility and a great attitude, a report outlined some very troubling “star treatment” he received and how it affected L.A.’s summer league team (h/t Lakers Daily).
Via The U.S. Sun:
“The attention he attracted was ‘very frustrating’ for the players to see, and his alleged star treatment caused friction among the team, which went 0-5 to start the tournament, per a Lakers insider,” wrote Steve Brenner and Damian Burchardt of the US Sun.
“‘That kind of tension didn’t help the group of players to build chemistry,’ said the source, who noted they have ‘nothing against’ Bronny.
“‘And you could feel that there was no unity [between] this group of guys as Bronny was the main guy and the others didn’t feel that it was right, that he deserved that.’”
Members of the media on hand in Las Vegas scrambled to interview the younger James, but there were times they couldn’t get to him.
“Along the way, Bronny’s reps made the guard unavailable for media availability on several occasions, which the source labeled as ‘not nice’ toward his teammates and other franchise members,” wrote Brenner and Burchardt.
“‘This isn’t a good look for us,’ the insider said.
“‘And with dealing with Bronny’s attention and treatment, plenty of the other young guys that are trying to make the roster for next season couldn’t show their best side and show their A game.’”
One member of the Lakers’ summer league squad had some unflattering things to say about how much the rookie guard was prioritized, and he felt it was to the detriment of other players.
“A player who was part of the Lakers’ Summer League team confirmed that with ‘almost everything centered around Bronny,’ it was tough to enjoy hooping,” wrote Brenner and Burchardt.
“‘I mean, he was treated as someone apart, not like all of us, and that is very annoying as we didn’t feel any chemistry in this group of players,’ the player said.
“The Lakers player said that given the attention on Bronny, he didn’t feel he had the opportunity to showcase his potential.
“‘I ended up being very frustrated because I was never put in the best situation, or even put in some plays or game plans because they wanted Bronny to show his skills and shine,’ he said.
“‘If you talk to any other player that was part of the roster of the California Classic and the Summer League, most of them would tell you the same thing.’
“‘The tensions were visible, and pretty much we were all thinking about the end of the Summer League to get out of here and focus on our next step in our careers.’”
That player did make it clear, however, that all this wasn’t necessarily the younger James’ fault and that he even felt “a bit bad” for the 19-year-old. He did add, however, that “he is not ready for all this, and he isn’t ready for the NBA in my opinion.”
He also had this final comment about the whole experience.
“It was pretty much Bronny On Tour,” he said.
With almost three months to go before the start of the NBA regular season, one has to hope this friction will not continue.