Bronny's draft stock right now 📈

Jonathan Givony analyzes how James went from a fringe prospect to a potential second-round pick 🔗 https://t.co/Vw1MLKttJ2 pic.twitter.com/UTrWCZ9n9j

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 17, 2024

Anthony Edwards confirms the rumors pic.twitter.com/LE6xP66DDk

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) May 17, 2024

wow, wow, wow! “Sha la la la boom boom yeah”! I am pretty sure Steve Martin said on SNL long time ago that the NBA “is a wild and crazy league!”

Interesting article on Bronny James from CBS Sports & Bill Reiter. Looks like more than meets the eye here.https://t.co/EhqHr16JhV

— Brian T. Stoner, CPA (@bstonercpa) May 16, 2024

That there are doubts about him from many scouts doesn’t alter the growing surety that he will be drafted at some point in the second round of next month’s draft. Many across the NBA believe the Lakers will take him in the second round with the 55th pick, if he’s still there.

Why not, the thinking goes, when most players in that range never have a career anyway? Combine Bronny’s possible upside with keeping his dad happy and you have an equation that seems to add up to, take him.

Yet many of the same people acknowledge that if Bronny’s last name were not James, and his dad were not LeBron, it wouldn’t even be a consideration.

“No, he’s not good enough,” one talent evaluator who scouted Bronny at USC said. “Maybe if he went back to college for another year or two. But now? Not an NBA player. Not even close.”

Still, he’s athletic, he is LeBron’s son, he is an immensely impressive person, he gets it, and he will probably be given every chance to succeed — that, alone, will be a huge help. Time is precious for would-be talents who aren’t ready. It’s rare, too.

It’s also important to note that Bronny does not claim to aim to be his dad, nor aspire to be him. In fact, Bronny’s goals are much more reasonable, and they offer insight into an ambitious young player who seems to have a good plan for what to aim for.

Asked what player in the NBA he might aspire to play like, Bronny James offered up a list that feels decidedly un-LeBron like: Davion Mitchell, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White.

“Guys that excel in every role,” he said. “Get good money and get good playing time because they’re locked into that role and know what they’re supposed to do.”

Those are good comps.

Here’s another one, prodded by something a scout, among others, has reminded me of when I’ve passed on the doubts many who have scouted Bronny in person have about his chances to succeed in the NBA: That growing up in the game has real advantages, and can correlate in tangible ways to NBA success.

Thinking of that, another name came to mind: Gary Payton II.

I met GP2 when he was a little younger than Bronny is now, and I remember having the same impression: What a nice, impressive, down-to-earth dude he had been. And how much of an old soul he seemed for his age.

That’s another thing you hear about Bronny. That his humility and down-to-earthness aren’t artifice, and that his intangibles as a person and teammate may well translate to the fortitude, work ethic and dedication it will take for a player like him to succeed.

He and GP2 have much in common. Both are the sons of men in, or sure to be in, the Hall of Fame. Both carry famous names. Both are smaller than their fathers, and both have faced or still do face much harder roads to the careers they crave.

Both are undersized guards who struggled with shooting but had athleticism and strong work ethics.

Even their measurables at their respective combines are similar.