The Phoenix Suns are one of two reported teams that will be holding a pre-draft workout with Bronny James.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The Athletic‘s Shams Charania reported today on FanDuel‘s “Run It Back” show that James would only entertain a “couple” of workout invites.
“Bronny James has over 10 workout invites during the pre-draft process,” Charania said. “I’m told he’s only going to visit a couple of those, and that’s going to include the (Los Angeles) Lakers and the Phoenix Suns. The Suns have the No. 22 overall pick in the draft. He’s under consideration there among, obviously, a lot of players at 22. But, it’s going to come down to the development plan. It’s going to come down to guaranteed money, whether it’s late in the first round, in the second round.
“But the fact (is) that there’s only going to be a couple of teams, 2-3 teams that Bronny James visits, and the Lakers and Suns, interestingly, are among the two teams.”
“Bronny James has over 10 workout invites… I’m told he’s only going to visit a couple of those, and that’s going to include the Lakers and the Phoenix Suns” ????@ShamsCharania with the latest on Bronny James pic.twitter.com/DlvjeM7tAT
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) May 28, 2024
Charania reported last week that James would be working out with the Suns and speculation grew that Phoenix would be trying to pursue his dad, LeBron James.
The Suns only hold the No. 22 overall pick in this year’s draft, while the Lakers have the No. 17 and No. 55 overall picks. If L.A. wants to wait to draft James, the money difference between the No. 22 pick and the No. 55 pick gives Phoenix a lot of leverage in this situation.
Lakers have picks 17 and 55
Suns have pick 22
Lakers think they can get away with drafting Bronny at 55 to placate Bron and using 17 on someone real. But if the Suns are "interested" at 22…now Bronny is signed to $10 mil guaranteed. Easy leverage.
— Sam Cooper (@scooperhoops) May 28, 2024
The No. 55 pick, Isaiah Wong, signed a two-way deal worth $559k this past season with the Indiana Pacers and only $280k of that was guaranteed, per Salary Swish.
James’ agent, Rich Paul, has already said that James will not be signing any two-way contracts.
Rich Paul says his client, Bronny James, will not sign a two-way contract which allows players to be on an NBA and G-League team ????
Full story here: https://t.co/WKlOdMLN6H
(via B/R’s @ChrisBHaynes) pic.twitter.com/tqLXTCSYyp
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 24, 2024
The obvious ploy here for the Suns is trying to attract LeBron to the Valley to play with his son. The problem?
The 39-year-old LeBron has a June 29 deadline for his $51.4 million player option to stay with the Lakers for the 2024-25 season.
Because the Suns are operating over the second-tax apron, Phoenix would only be able to sign LeBron to a veteran-minimum deal when free agency rolls around on June 30 if he declined his player option. This contract would be worth just over $3 million, meaning LeBron, who is already a billionaire, would be taking around a $47-48 million paycut for the Suns.
Bronny is ranked as the 54th best prospect in the draft by ESPN out of 100 players. He averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists on 36.6/26.7/67.6 shooting splits in 25 games in his lone season at USC last year.
At the NBA Draft combine, James measured in at 6-foot-1.5 without shoes and 210 pounds. He has a 6-foot-7.25 wingspan and recorded a 40.5-inch vertical leap, which was the fourth highest among combine participants.
The Suns are basically wide open with what they can do with the No. 22 pick. They are able to trade this year’s No. 22 pick and also gain the ability to trade their 2031 first-round pick on the day of the first round of the NBA Draft (June 26). Phoenix does not own the trading rights to any of its other future first-round picks.
There are a lot of rumors that Phoenix might shop both of these picks, especially after this quote from owner Mat Ishbia a few weeks ago.
“If fans like to look in the future and say, ‘Hey, I really like that 2031 draft pick, because maybe that seventh-grader is gonna be really good and we’re gonna draft them and one day he’s gonna be a player,’ you ain’t going to like the Phoenix Suns,” Ishbia said. “Because we’re gonna say, ‘Draft picks are to get great players.’”
How serious the Suns are about drafting Bronny remains to be seen, but if they are able to probably the best win-now player they could in LeBron by doing so, it does not hurt to ponder.
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
