Bronny James is going to the Los Angeles Lakers to team up with his dad, LeBron.
The Lakers selected Bronny in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft with the 55th overall selection.
The pick comes after weeks of speculation about where Bronny would be selected in the NBA Draft – with a range being set from the first round to going undrafted altogether.
But now, Bronny – who played last season with USC – will be staying with a basketball team in Los Angeles.
Bronny’s single season of college basketball turned out to be a major letdown after the McDonald’s All-American suffered cardiac arrest while practicing in July of 2023. He was cleared to return to the court, but averaged only 19.4 minutes over 25 games for the Trojans, while scoring just 4.8 points per outing.
There was much debate in the run-up to this years draft about whether or not Bronny was ready to take on the NBA.
But the LA Lakers decided that they’d seen enough and selected the 19-year-old anyway despite his limited experience and stats from college.
The Los Angeles Lakers opted against using their first-round pick to draft LeBron’s eldest son, who was snubbed from the first round entirely on Wednesday night.
On Thursday, the 19-year-old was spotted stepping out of a car in New York, wearing pink sneakers a matching pullover on his shoulders.
The first round of the draft was a glitzy ceremony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where Zaccharie Risacher became the second Frenchman in as many years to be drafted first.
This is the first time in history that the NBA draft is a two-day event. The ceremony on Thursday will be a more low-key affair, held in New York City’s Seaport district.
Bronny will now hope to be one of the few sons to have played with their fathers in professional sports.
Examples of some others include Ken Griffey Jr. playing baseball with his father Ken Griffey Sr. on the Seattle Mariners in 1990, while Mark and Marty Howe played alongside their legendary father Gordie with the Hartford Whalers in the late 1970s and 1980.