One sign of intense national fan interest in Bronny James is bizarre

Betting markets on Bronny James heading into the NBA draft are not what you would expect. At all.

People are definitely interested in Bronny James’ future in professional basketball. The 2024 NBA draft will be fascinating for a lot of reasons, one being if Bronny James does get picked at any point in the proceedings. One bizarre reflection of the national interest in Bronny among Americans comes from ESPN, which has a story about the betting markets and the NBA draft:

“At FanDuel, James has attracted 30% of the tickets to be selected first overall by the Atlanta Hawks, the most for any player at the sportsbook. BetMGM reports that the USC guard has 36.8% of the bets, well ahead of Alex Sarr (-300), who has the second most at 14%. James was not initially listed in the No. 1 overall market at DraftKings but found himself in the field as of Thursday afternoon.

“James has consensus odds of 200-1 to be taken with the draft’s first pick — tied with Purdue’s Zach Edey for the longest on the board.”

The reason why this is so weird is that anyone with a modest knowledge of basketball knows that Bronny James’ NBA readiness is in question. This should make it virtually impossible for him to be found anywhere near the lottery, let alone the No. 1 overall pick. Yet, that apparently isn’t stopping people from believing Bronny can be the one at No. 1. It’s really strange.

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