Lakers Giving Bronny James Even More Special Treatment That Is Doing Nothing But Hurting His Career
If you were somehow still living in denial that the Los Angeles Lakers weren't giving Bronny James special treatment, that bubble has officially burst with the latest development in the charade the franchise is putting together with LeBron James' son.
The Lakers using a draft pick on Bronny James, who averaged 4.8 points per game in his one season at USC, was one thing, given this is a team that wants to keep LeBron as happy and locked in as possible. Giving him some minutes in the season opener to make the James' the first father-son duo to play in the NBA together was a bit cringy, but also inevitable.
It's not his fault by any means given he can't help who his dad is, but Bronny has been the poster child of ‘special treatment’ since the moment he was drafted, but now the Lakers are taking things way too far.
The 20-year-old has appeared in six of the Lakers' 10 games so far this season but was sent to the G League this past weekend and made his debut with the South Bay Lakers on Saturday, where he saw 31 minutes of action.
Bronny James is only playing in home games in the G League, according to a new report. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Bronny, like any other basketball player, needs minutes to develop, and the G League is where he needs to spend his time, but he'll only be playing in South Bay's home games. According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, not only will Bronny only be playing in home games for South Bay, but he won't be jumping on a commercial flight to get to and from South Bay home games and wherever the LA Lakers may be on the road at the time.
"From my understanding, he’s only gonna play in the South Bay Lakers home games, that he’s only gonna kind of be a part-time G League player, and he’s not getting on United Airlines and going to fly and go see these other teams, play in these road games," Windhorst said on ‘The Hoop Collective’ podcast.
"Honestly, I know he was getting somewhat special treatment and nepotism, that’s fine. I don’t care. It’s normal. Now, I think it’s actually detrimental to him. I don’t like that. I don’t know whose idea it was. Obviously the Lakers are fine with it, they’re doing it."
"On this particular instance, I think that’s gone too far, and I don’t think that benefits Bronny, I don’t think it benefits the South Bay Lakers and I don’t think it benefits LeBron at that point."
The LeBron James - Bronny James charade has take on an entirely new level. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Everything Windhorst said about this not helping Bronny in any way is spot on, except for his claim that he doesn't think it benefits LeBron at this point. That's where Windhorst is wrong, because this ridiculous situation is solely centered around LeBron's benefit. Period.
Bronny not playing road games in the G League just so he can sit on the Lakers' bench and maybe pick up one to two minutes in garbage time every other game is ludicrous, but this entire scenario has been ludicrous from the get-go.