Nike’s Ad Celebrating Bronny James Getting Drafted Is Embarrassing And Insulting

The Los Angeles Lakers used the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft to select Bronny James, the son of superstar LeBron James.

Shortly after, Nike released an advertisement congratulating Bronny James on being selected and, frankly, it’s both embarrassing for James and insulting to everybody else.

Bronny James is a talented basketball player. So much so that he may have even been drafted on his own merit had it not been for a major health scare. He’s an athletic combo guard who can defend and shoot and is only just scratching the surface of his potential.

But after suffering a cardiac event in the summer prior to freshman season at USC, James was wildly ineffective for the Trojans.

That should come as no surprise. He was seen by most as a multi-year college prospect to begin with and then missed most of the preseason while processing a traumatic event both physically and mentally.

Nike Ad Celebrating Bronny James Makes A Mockery Of The NBA Draft

But make no bones about it. James got drafted because of his father. He specifically went to Los Angeles because of his father and was able to say he was drafted to the NBA because of his father.

James was so sure of his draft slot that he turned down several workouts with NBA teams.

It’s not the first time nepotism has come up in sports. In fact, it’s often the rule rather than the exception. But it’s the fact that all parties involved trying to deny the obvious that’s so embarrassing.

“Still can’t believe either lebron thinks this is a good idea. and it’s embarrassing more ppl in my profession won’t call this the clown sh-t that it is. but here we are,” Bomani Jones tweeted about the situation.

James’s agent, Rich Paul, reportedly threatened teams who considered selecting James. Paul told teams James would go play in Australia instead.

Sure, Rich.

Bronny James might well be a good NBA player someday. He seems like a good enough kid with an impressive work ethic. But he’s an NBA draftee today because he’s LeBron James’s son. And anybody pretending otherwise is just insulting the intelligence fo basketball fans everywhere.