The Los Angeles Lakers’s decision to draft LeBron James’s son, Bronny James, has become increasingly questionable amid his perpetual struggles at the 2024 NBA Summer League. Though the inevitably futile endeavor has now harmed almost every individual and organization involved in the draft selection, Bronny James has displayed an impressive amount of maturity amid all the noise.

Bronny James was drafted 55th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers back on June 27 in what was a blatant act of nepotism given that LeBron James has for years referenced a desire to play with his eldest son. The pick was relatively expected despite the fact that Bronny James came off the bench at the University of Southern California and no legitimate draft analyst pegged him as a genuine prospect.  

Those negative assessments of Bronny James’s game have now come to fruition during the 2024 NBA Summer League. Having been launched in 2004, the league’s purpose is to allow rookies, younger players, and undrafted free agents to showcase their talents in the name of competing for an official roster spot. Bronny James has, unfortunately but predictably, underperformed amid the impressive assemblage of collegiate stars and second-year players. 

He’s scored a combined 17 points in four games and has yet to knock down a three-pointer (0-15). Scoring isn’t everything, certainly, but sports pundits such as Nick Wright have claimed that he would be a good fit for the NBA G League, the minor league of the NBA.  

The costs of the Lakers’s irrational draft choice are being incurred by everyone involved in the situation. 

LeBron James’s dream of playing on the same court as his son no longer seems viable. The Lakers wasted a draft pick that could have been used to bolster the roster. The NBA already struggles with having an anticompetitive culture given its problems with tanking and players taking games off to rest, but allowing such nepotism to manifest itself so brazenly will only worsen the league’s credibility. A draft prospect didn’t get to hear his name called on draft night due to Bronny James being selected. And given that Bronny James played an average of almost 26 minutes a night, other young prospects on his team aren’t getting the opportunity to showcase their talents during these crucial few weeks. 

Shamefully, and to no fault of his own, Bronny James is the one who suffers the most from the Lakers’s erroneous decision. He’s received a disproportionate amount of media coverage and one can only imagine how much pressure has been placed on his shoulders. Despite all the attention and high stakes, however, he’s taken every moment in stride and has displayed an impressive amount of maturity for someone so young. 

After admitting in a postgame interview that he’s in a “little bit of a slump right now,” the 19-year-old was also quoted as saying, “I’m anxious to play basketball, no matter what level I’m at.”

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To be so humble in the face of enormous pressure (and 7-footers trying to dunk on him) is representative of his integrity and innate toughness. Though the adults in the room may not have made the right choice by putting him in this position, the ever-resilient young man has handled it with absolute grace. 

Fortunately for Bronny James, his upstanding character matters far more than his play on the court ever will.