Nov 1 2024; Toronto, Ontario, can; Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James (9) during the warm -up before a match against Toronto Raptors at the Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn images Bronny James received some meaningful regular season minutes in Tuesday night’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, and it did not go as planned.
On Wednesday, Stephen A. Smith had to let ESPN’s first take how badly Bronny played.
“I appeal to LeBron James as father. Stop this. We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad, Smith said.
Bronny played 15 minutes in Tuesday’s loss, was 0-for-5 from the field, had three returns and one assist which was good for an -8 rating in the box. After the match, he told reporters that he was surprised to have real minutes during the first quarter, and head coach Jj Redick apologized and stated that he put Bronny in a very tough place.
But Smith’s rant on the whole story was perfect. The Los Angeles Lakers gave the sports world and the James family an incredible moment on the NBA opening evening when Bronny and Lebron became the first far and probe in the NBA history.
But this has become the most discussed second round in the history of sports. Bronny was selected in total No. 55. It is very unfair to expect him to contribute meaningful minutes to any NBA program list, even less Lakers, which sees a playoffs in the Western Conference.
There is no need for him to be at this stage, no matter how beaten or underpinned Lakers can be.
ESPN’s best basketball speaker should not have to be forced to come up with his show and break down in horrible detail how bad the total choice No. 55 plays because it is expected.
Leave nepotism out of it for a second. We talk about a 20-year-old child who did not play a lot of college basketball, has some congenital tools and properties of a good basketball player, but is a complete project that needs time to develop. But because of his last name – and because of who his father is – Top Sports Talk is forced to talk about him after each individual unsuccessful excursion. It is unfair to everyone involved.
It is clear that he has to develop – and it happened to some good performances that were tightened in the G League with South Bay.
Let bronny develop. At this point, there are countless G League success stories of players who were not ready to play in the association Direkt, but when their time came they were ready to be everyday NBA grant donors.
Right now, Bronny who plays meaningful NBA minute is nothing but a gimmick and it is a bit boring. Sure, he worked extremely hard. We have seen that he has all the tools required to be an elite player in the G League, even as a beginner.
Let him continue his development down there, out of the limelight, and one day he was able to play meaningful NBA minutes as contributors.
