Bronny James, son of LeBron James, will keep his name in the NBA Draft ahead of tonight’s 8:59 p.m. MST, his agent Rich Paul told ESPN.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The Athletic‘s Shams Charania reported yesterday on FanDuel‘s “Run It Back” show that James would only entertain a “couple” of workout invites, including the Phoenix Suns.
“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 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.
Paul added some information on Bronny’s draft stock to ESPN.
“Bronny’s [draft] range is wide,” Paul told ESPN. “He’s a really good prospect who has a lot of room for growth. It only takes one team. I don’t care where that team is — it can be No. 1 or 58 — [but] I do care about the plan, the development. The team’s strategy, the opportunity and the financial commitment. That’s why I’m not doing a two-way deal. Every team understands that.”
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.
Paul had previously said to Bleacher Report that Bronny will not sign a two-way contract.
“We’re still figuring it out,” Paul told ESPN. “Many teams have called. It’s a matter of hashing out workouts and figuring out who is real and who is not. There are only two or three teams that might take him. That’s how I am going to approach that.”
The 39-year-old LeBron, who has stated in the past how much he wants to play with his son, 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.
With this said, the Lakers are the betting favorite by multiple sportsbooks to land Bronny.
“The Lakers need to look at Bronny like everyone else,” Paul told ESPN. “If they value him enough and he’s there, that’s great. If it’s not the Lakers, that’s great. I won’t be mad if it’s not. It’s obvious that people hear the conversation around the dad and son playing together, but that’s not our focus. If it happens organically, great. I’m not building on that.
“I’m not putting unrealistic expectations on Bronny. He’s far from a finished product. But he has a hell of start. He’s positioned well. … I don’t see him not getting drafted, but if it got to a point where the situations didn’t make sense and we needed to go undrafted, that’s fine.”
Suns among a ‘couple’ of teams Bronny James will work out for
*Get the BEST Phoenix sports insider information, exclusive content, and access to our seasonal magazines! SIGN UP HERE to unlock our premium content!*
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
