Bronny James sees NBA Draft chances improving

BOSTON – LeBron James’ eldest son Bronny, initially projected to go undrafted, has managed to sneak his way into the second round of most of the mock drafts after his impressive showing at the NBA Draft Combine. 

Bronny has only visited two teams — the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns — by design, James’ agent Rich Paul told ESPN on Wednesday (Thursday Manila time). 

"This is nothing new," Paul said. "The goal is to find a team that values your guy and try to push him to get there. It's important to understand the context and realize that this has always been the strategy with many of my clients throughout the years, especially those in need of development like Bronny. My stuff is by design." 

The Lakers have two picks in this year’s draft: No. 17 and No. 55. The Suns have only one at No. 22. 

Paul, the CEO of Klutch Sports, who also represents LeBron and Anthony Davis, said they are avoiding teams who would only offer a two-way contract and wanted to steer the younger James to a team that values him. He also squashed the rumors that LeBron and Bronny are a package deal. 

"LeBron is off this idea of having to play with Bronny," Paul told ESPN. "If he does, he does. But if he doesn't, he doesn't. There's no deal made that it's guaranteed that if the Lakers draft Bronny at 55, he [LeBron] will re-sign. If that were the case, I would force them to take him at 17. We don't need leverage. The Lakers can draft Bronny and LeBron doesn't re-sign. LeBron is also not going to Phoenix for a minimum deal. We can squash that now.”

The Lakers are a +125 favorite to land Bronny at Fanduel, one of the best sportsbooks according to MD Betting, with the Suns a distant second at +550.  

Paul also added that the Minnesota Timberwolves, Dallas Mavericks and Toronto Raptors have shown interest in drafting Bronny. Still, he only limited Bronny’s draft workouts to the Lakers and Suns. 

“Minnesota would love to get Bronny in, but I don't know who their owner is going to be. [Mavs GM] Nico Harrison is like an uncle to Bronny. If the Lakers don't take him at 55, Dallas would take him at 58 and give him a guaranteed deal. Masai [Ujiri, Raptors president] loves him. They could take him without even seeing him at 31,” Paul said. 

Timberwolves’ longtime majority owner Glen Taylor is currently embroiled in a messy legal dispute with minority owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore.  

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Alder Almo is a former senior sportswriter for Philstar.com and NBA.com Philippines. He is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and writes for the New York-based website Heavy.com.