Getty Image / Ronald Martinez
After years of speculation, Bronny James and his dad, LeBron James, are going to team up and become the first-father son duo to ever share a court in the NBA, whether on the same team or as opponents. The Lakers drafted Bronny last Thursday with the 55th-overall pick in the NBA Draft.
Many are outraged about this, as Bronny didn’t have a great freshman season at USC and probably isn’t ready for the NBA. Unlike other 2nd-rounders that spent just one season playing post-high school, many expected Bronny James to immediately join the Lakers roster so that he can make history alongside his legendary dad.
And, that’s going to be true, at least at first. According to ESPN NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski, Bronny James will indeed start the year with the Lakers. But, most of his time will be spent in the G-League, where he probably belongs at this stage of his career.
“Well, what the Lakers’ expectations are is that he’ll largely be a G League player like almost any 19-year-old player coming into the league drafted in the second round. I think what you’ll ultimately probably see is Bronny James in the first week of the season on the court with his father, in a very — I don’t want to call it ceremonial — but the eyes of the world will be on that. “They’ll do that the first week of the season, but there’s no expectation Bronny James is going to be in the Lakers’ rotation. He’ll spend a lot of his time playing with their G League team which shares a practice facility with the Lakers.”
This makes a lot more sense. While Bronny James has the tools to develop into a good NBA player, there’s no way he should be getting rotation minutes for a team that has playoff run aspirations like the Los Angeles Lakers.
The G-League affiliate for the Lakers is the South Bay Lakers.