The basketball world expects a historic LeBron-Bronny duo on the NBA floor

The Lakers selected Bronny James with the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.

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We’re counting down 24 major storylines for the 2024-2025 NBA season. Our senior analysts will dissect a new topic every day as we help you prepare for opening night on October 22.

Here’s the storyline No. 23:

How many times will the PA announcer call a “James to James” assist during Lakers games?

The heartwarming basketball story awaits, as a James connects with a James, immediately followed by a touch, a hug or a head pat or whatever form of love is expressed between them.

This will be special. LeBron James will take a seat next to Bronny at some point and share the floor for the Lakers, if the basketball gods so desire. Any debates about the readiness of Bronny, the 55th pick in June’s draft, are just noise at this point.

A father goes to play basketball with his son. In the NBA. That’s all that matters.

Now if you ask how often this will happen, then there is your discussion.

One time is enough to make NBA history. Dozens of times seems like a bit of a reach, at least in Bronny’s rookie season. That’s because his type – young players with a lack of experience and need for development – ​​tend to (a) sit on the bench and bat, or (b) spend time in the G League.

The most realistic and reasonable approach with Bronny is to allow growth on his own timeline, giving him just enough of a taste of the big leagues to whet his appetite, but otherwise keeping him in the lab to work on his game.

That blueprint seems ideal for relieving him of any pressure or urgency, squashing all the foolish expectations and hype, and keeping everything organic. Leave his ultimate fate up to him and the three D’s: desire, determination and discipline.

Once father and son have their moment, the circus will leave town and the shine will return where it belongs: on the four-time champion who continues to defy age. Most of all, LeBron has put himself in a position to experience this with his son by staying in great shape and playing at a high level for 20 years. He is rightly rewarded for this in more ways than one.

As for Bronny? His contract is guaranteed for a minimum of three seasons. But second-round picks face long odds of cracking rotations during their NBA careers, which are normally short.

He has a good grasp of the nuances of the game, appears fundamentally sound for his age and has decent defensive instincts. Ultimately, he will need an improved offensive game to get minutes and more playing time with his father. Someone his size (6-foot-1) needs a consistent outside shot and the ability to beat his man off the dribble.

If you have LeBron as a father, you get in. That is why there is a father-son relationship for the first time. The rest is up to Bronny.

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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can email him herefind his archive here And follow him on X.

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