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USC freshman guard Bronny James will enter the 2024 NBA draft while maintaining his college eligibility and will also enter the transfer portal, he said Friday on Instagram.

James had been expected to have a major impact on USC after earning McDonald's All-American honors in high school, but a July cardiac arrest episode and a procedure to treat a congenital heart defect sidelined him for five months and severely impacted his productivity as a freshman at USC.

James averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 19 minutes a game.

Via espn.com

As long as he goes to a good situation and continues to play the game the right way he should be fine. He’s a role player not a star player..

Do the Lakers have a 2nd round pick?

YourGM99 wrote:As long as he goes to a good situation and continues to play the game the right way he should be fine. He’s a role player not a star player..

He can definitely play and I agree, in the right situation he could be molded in to a solid role player. As long as he is 100% healthy.

My guess is he ends up staying one more year but transferring to a different school, but some NBA team could take a chance.

He'll end up a role player if he is lucky. This is nepotism at its finest. He does not look NBA ready in the slightest, and unless you are a phenom/high potential prospect, you don't exactly get given a long leash.

Scase wrote:He'll end up a role player if he is lucky. This is nepotism at its finest. He does not look NBA ready in the slightest, and unless you are a phenom/high potential prospect, you don't exactly get given a long leash.

Call it like you see it. Bronny is not NBA ready. He should play 4 years college ball and then he'd have a chance.

tigerae wrote:

YourGM99 wrote:As long as he goes to a good situation and continues to play the game the right way he should be fine. He’s a role player not a star player..

He can definitely play and I agree, in the right situation he could be molded in to a solid role player. As long as he is 100% healthy.

My guess is he ends up staying one more year but transferring to a different school, but some NBA team could take a chance.

No he can't play. He's really bad. He will get drafted for one of two reasons:

1) LAL draft him to placate Lebron.
2) A team drafts him as leverage to either entice Lebron to switch teams or to use as leverage in trade negotiations with LAL. I could see CHI drafting him just to help them offload LaVine.

Scase wrote:He'll end up a role player if he is lucky. This is nepotism at its finest. He does not look NBA ready in the slightest, and unless you are a phenom/high potential prospect, you don't exactly get given a long leash.

Truth. I expect his playing career to be very similar to that of Thanasis Antetokounmpo, but shorter because of how soon Lebron will retire. People often cry nepotism when talking about Austin Rivers... but that dude was a star in college. I have a hard time believing Bronny will ever play an important minute in a meaningful NBA game. He isn't good.

Bronny will almost certainly be selected if he stays in. LeBron will push the Lakers to acquire a pick to get him.

KGdaBom wrote:

Scase wrote:He'll end up a role player if he is lucky. This is nepotism at its finest. He does not look NBA ready in the slightest, and unless you are a phenom/high potential prospect, you don't exactly get given a long leash.

Call it like you see it. Bronny is not NBA ready. He should play 4 years college ball and then he'd have a chance.

G league is a legit path for unprepared guys too

puja21 wrote:

KGdaBom wrote:

Scase wrote:He'll end up a role player if he is lucky. This is nepotism at its finest. He does not look NBA ready in the slightest, and unless you are a phenom/high potential prospect, you don't exactly get given a long leash.

Call it like you see it. Bronny is not NBA ready. He should play 4 years college ball and then he'd have a chance.

G league is a legit path for unprepared guys too

True, but he'd get a lot more money in college.

stats aside the fact this is a buzzin news story tells u all u need to know

the_process wrote:Bronny will almost certainly be selected if he stays in. LeBron will push the Lakers to acquire a pick to get him.

Being that you can buy a late 2nd for peanuts now, this seems very possible by the Lakers and I'm not going to criticize them for it. I don't think any other team is going to try to piss in their Wheaties and screw it up, Bronny is not a significant prospect right now (he could be in a year though, and then all bets would be off.)

KGdaBom wrote:

puja21 wrote:

KGdaBom wrote:Call it like you see it. Bronny is not NBA ready. He should play 4 years college ball and then he'd have a chance.

G league is a legit path for unprepared guys too

True, but he'd get a lot more money in college.

Money is irrelevant. His monthly allowance is unquestionably more than my annual salary. As a 2nd round pick at best, money won't matter until his 2nd contract, which likely will never come.

madmaxmedia wrote:

the_process wrote:Bronny will almost certainly be selected if he stays in. LeBron will push the Lakers to acquire a pick to get him.

Being that you can buy a late 2nd for peanuts now, this seems very possible by the Lakers and I'm not going to criticize them for it. I don't think any other team is going to try to piss in their Wheaties and screw it up, Bronny is not a significant prospect right now (he could be in a year though, and then all bets would be off.)

They won't need to buy a 2nd. Unless another team tries to get cute, he will go undrafted. At that point the Lakers can invite him to training camp. There is nothing that he has shown on the court that suggests he is remotely worth wasting a pick on. Yes, I have already counted him out.

Pickled Prunes wrote:

KGdaBom wrote:

puja21 wrote:
G league is a legit path for unprepared guys too

True, but he'd get a lot more money in college.

Money is irrelevant. His monthly allowance is unquestionably more than my annual salary. As a 2nd round pick at best, money won't matter until his 2nd contract, which likely will never come.

Considering LeBron will likely end up owning the Las Vegas expansion team, I wouldn't say never.

He isn't even good enough to play in the G League.

tigerae wrote:

Pickled Prunes wrote:

KGdaBom wrote:True, but he'd get a lot more money in college.

Money is irrelevant. His monthly allowance is unquestionably more than my annual salary. As a 2nd round pick at best, money won't matter until his 2nd contract, which likely will never come.

Considering LeBron will likely end up owning the Las Vegas expansion team, I wouldn't say never.

I didn't say never, I said likely. But sure, if Bronny is OK with only making a roster because his dad owns the team, then sure, he might play until 40 as well.

Pickled Prunes wrote:

madmaxmedia wrote:

the_process wrote:Bronny will almost certainly be selected if he stays in. LeBron will push the Lakers to acquire a pick to get him.

Being that you can buy a late 2nd for peanuts now, this seems very possible by the Lakers and I'm not going to criticize them for it. I don't think any other team is going to try to piss in their Wheaties and screw it up, Bronny is not a significant prospect right now (he could be in a year though, and then all bets would be off.)

They won't need to buy a 2nd. Unless another team tries to get cute, he will go undrafted. At that point the Lakers can invite him to training camp. There is nothing that he has shown on the court that suggests he is remotely worth wasting a pick on. Yes, I have already counted him out.

i agree that bronny doesn't look like a valuable player, but rather than getting cute, i genuinely think there might be one or two front offices with a person who has the power to draft bronny and believes (likely without any reason) that it will help them land lebron. maybe a team like the nets or hornets or wizards that seems out of the loop with player plans, tends to overpay, and takes unnecessary risks with limited upside.

objectively, and in isolation, he doesn't seem worth a draft pick, or even udfa signing, but history has shown there is good reason to believe that not all nba decision-makers operate rationally or with good information.

Pickled Prunes wrote:

KGdaBom wrote:

puja21 wrote:
G league is a legit path for unprepared guys too

True, but he'd get a lot more money in college.

Money is irrelevant. His monthly allowance is unquestionably more than my annual salary. As a 2nd round pick at best, money won't matter until his 2nd contract, which likely will never come.

I'm not talking about his pro contract. I'm talking about NIL money. He's more high profile at a major college than he would be on a G League team. More money. As for an allowance from Daddy we don't know do we. He probably has a trust fund.

First let me state that I'm no Lebron fan and that Bronny wouldn't be on my radar if it wasn't for his father.

Ok with that being said I think Bronny has transferable skills with great athleticism and bball IQ. If you watch his games he doesn't seem to care about stats and just wants to make the right plays, unfortunately that didn't translate to wins. I can see him thriving in a system that appreciates his defense, passing, decision making, and his shot looks better than the stats show.

To be fair I think he has a somewhat low ceiling. I think the very best we can expect is an Avery Bradley type player who is undersized (to be fair he is 1 inch taller than Bradley) but strong and athletic enough to guard both guard positions and be serviceable (maybe even good) on switches. On offense he just needs to hit open shots and I think he has the ability on day one to be an electric transition player and could be the primary ball handler on second units.

Granted his stats don't scream one and done and I think transferring to a place where he can thrive would be good for him (College of Charleston, Kansas, Saint Mary's, etc)