Bronny’s G League assignment comes with the star treatment.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
The Lakers drafting Bronny James was always going to become a sideshow for Los Angeles this season when it came to LeBron, but new information about Bronny’s G League assignment is beyond the pale.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reports that the Lakers rookie is getting phenomenal star treatment during his time with the South Bay Lakers of the G League.
“From my understanding he’s [Bronny] only going to play in the South Bay Lakers home games. That he’s only gonna kinda be a part-time G League player, and he’s not getting on United Airlines and going to fly and play in these road games. Honestly, I knew he was getting so much special treatment and nepotism — honestly, that’s fine, I don’t care, that’s normal. Now I actually think it’s 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. Now in this particular instance it’s gone too far. I don’t think it benefits Bronny, I don’t think it benefits the South Bay Lakers, I don’t think it benefits LeBron. It’d be much better if Bronny was a more developed player by February or March.”
Windhorst is spot on, but it goes a step further. Not only does this hurt Bronny’s development as a player and turns the story of the Lakers drafting LeBron’s son into more of a distraction, it’s profoundly insulting to every player on the South Bay Lakers who travel on commercial airlines for games, who put in the minutes, who are grinding to try and make enough of an impact to make the roster.
Essentially what this says is that you can be an objectively terrible NBA player as Bronny has been (shooting 16.7 percent this season), and still get star treatment because of who your father is. It’s also safe to presume that because Bronny is only playing part-time ball he’ll need to get the majority of his minutes at home to develop, resigning someone who is doing things the right way to the bench.
Let’s face it: We all know the only reason Bronny was drafted was because of his dad. He had sway no other second round pick had in 2024. That said, it’s ridiculous to now see him being handled with kid gloves and getting special treatment when he needs more development time than anyone else in the Lakers system.
This is what happens when you draft someone for the wrong reasons.