The spotlight has only gotten brighter as Bronny James takes another step toward the 2024 NBA Draft.
With the NBA Draft Combine behind him and individual team workouts getting underway, the son of LeBron James is quickly becoming the biggest talking point of this year's draft class.
This level of attention is unprecedented for a projected second-round pick, but that is to be expected when you're the first heir to arguably the greatest basketball player of all time.
For the first time since Bronny went through combine workouts and media interviews, LeBron addressed his thoughts on his son's pre-draft process so far on the "Mind the Game" podcast with JJ Redick. LeBron praised Bronny's demeanor through all the noise while leaving everyone with an important statement when evaluating Bronny's future in the NBA.
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LeBron James lays blueprint for Bronny to succeed in the NBA
There will only be one LeBron James.
Bronny isn't 6-7 and 245 pounds like his father was coming into the NBA. It would also be impossible to match his father's truly one-of-a-kind athleticism.
That is why it is important for Bronny — and his evaluators — to temper expectations when projecting his NBA future. Bronny did that as well as he possibly could when he delivered realistic player comparisons for himself during his NBA Draft Combine interviews.
According to LeBron, his son delivered those answers organically without any guidance from his father.
"I wanted him to kind of figure it out on his own, where he see himself fit in the NBA or where he see what his [player] comp looks like," LeBron told Redick.
"To see him mention guys like Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, a few other guys in our league, Marcus Smart, Davion Mitchell. These are guys who come in and for a team that's trying to win championships, a team that wants to win every night, these are the players that you have to have on your team. It doesn't always show up in the box scores but it always shows up in the winning plays.
"For Bronny to have that perspective on where he stands today, that's great."
.@KingJames talks about watching Bronny go through the NBA Draft process.
— Mind the Game (@mindthegamepod) May 22, 2024
Watch Episode 8 with LeBron and @jj_redick: https://t.co/5hyyY2bIhe pic.twitter.com/E8yiFwbFZ5
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LeBron admitted that as one of the most hyped prospects in the history of sports, his list of goals, obviously, was a bit more lofty than his son's.
"I know that wasn't my goal. My goal was like, I'm trying to make it to the All-Star Game in Year 1, I want to be All-Star, I want to be MVP, I want to be all of these things.
"A lot of us have those aspirations, but for Bronny to have that mindset of, at this point in time in my life and in my game I know where I stand but I know how I affect the game. He's just a winning player. I just love his mindset," LeBron continued.
"Some of his answers to a lot of the questions that was given to him, I was in awe of, because we've never actually even talked about it."
LeBron went on to talk about how proud he was of Bronny's ability to block out the outside noise. Even though Bronny isn't the prospect his father was, LeBron doesn't believe he could handle the attention with as much poise as his son does.
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"He's definitely carving out his own lane. He's definitely not his dad and I'm not him," LeBron stated plainly.
"I wouldn't be able to handle the scrutiny and all the things that he got going on at his age and at his level and with social media. I didn't have social media to deal with when I came in [to the NBA] at 18.
"I did have a lot of scrutiny, I did have a lot of things that was put on my shoulders but I didn't have every single day around-the-clock news coverage, sports shows, talking about this particular person every single day. You go online or social media ... everyone can comment about whatever they want to say. I didn't have to deal with that," LeBron said.
"To see him handle it with such class and self-awareness and staying even-keeled, it's just a remarkable thing. I'm super proud of him."
Bronny is said to have improved his draft stock at the combine and has drawn interest from a number of teams, including the Lakers. It's now believed he could be taken in the late first round or early second round.
