Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, has struggled so far in summer league play. The No. 55 overall pick in last month’s draft has shot just 6-of-26 from the field and missed all 12 of his 3-point attempts in his first three summer league games.
Naturally, some are already calling the younger James a bust. There are plenty who feel the only reason he was drafted in the first place was because of who his father is, and that in reality, he’s barely even good enough to play in the G League.
But one NBA executive said that, in his view, the 19-year-old deserved to be taken in the second round of the draft.
Via Heavy Sports:
“I don’t think it’s a stretch at all for him to be a 55th pick,” the source told Heavy Sports. “You could say it is after the year he had as a freshman, but what he accomplished leading up to his freshman year and he played really well in the (NBA Draft) Combine — and he had one really good day at the Combine — all that part? That makes him more than a valid pick.
“I would take Bronny over I-don’t-know-how-many players in that second round. I think all the controversy stuff is a lot to do about nothing.”
The guard does seem to have plenty of defensive potential. New Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick said as much during the team’s most recent summer league game, and he even compared the younger James’ defensive potential to Luguentz Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The younger James himself implied afterward that he’d be open to playing in the G League. Right now, it looks like that’s his best bet for someday becoming a serviceable NBA player.