Bronny James makes official 2024 NBA Draft decision as rumors of preferred teams swirl

NBA

By Matt Ehalt

The potential Bronny James-LeBron James pairing is one step closer to becoming a reality.

The 19-year-old Bronny is staying in the 2024 NBA Draft instead of returning to college, finalizing his decision before Wednesday’s 11:59 p.m. ET deadline, his agent Rich Paul told ESPN.

All eyes are now on whether Bronny and his father will land on the same team.

“Bronny’s [draft] range is wide,” Paul recently 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.”

It had been a foregone conclusion that Bronny would stay in the NBA Draft after declaring earlier this year, even if he had underwhelming collegiate numbers.

Bronny averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 36.6 percent, including 26.7 percent from deep, for a terrible USC team that finished 15-18 this past season.

Teams may be more willing to draft Bronny — who earned solid reviews from the NBA Combine — due to the possibility of it luring his father, the league’s all-time leading scorer.

LeBron has a $51.4 million player option with the Lakers for the 2024-25 season and has said he would like to play with his son before he retires.

“The Lakers need to look at Bronny like everyone else,” Paul, the CEO of Klutch Sports, 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.”

Plenty of reports have projected him to be selected by the Lakers with the 55th pick, although some bettors have flocked markets to bet on Bronny going No. 1 overall.

It appears Bronny is hoping to head to either Hollywood or the desert, as The Athletic reported that the Lakers and the Suns are on the short list of teams he’s willing to work out for before the draft, which begins on June 26.

Phoenix holds the No. 22 pick.

“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.”

Paul has already told teams that Bronny “absolutely” will not sign a two-way contract, meaning he’ll be holding out for a guaranteed contract.

Bronny was medically cleared by the NBA’s Fitness to Play Panel earlier this year following the former top-50 prospect suffering cardiac arrest during a workout at USC last summer.