NBA Execs To Bronny James: Stay In School!!


Bronny James' first college season started off with a frightening situation, as a cardiac issue forced him to the sidelines during the summer, and his season at USC got off to a belated start. Now, an ESPN Insider report has talked to a number of NBA executives who strongly suggest that instead of coming out and entering the NBA Draft in 2024, LeBron's son should stay in school, and get a full, healthy season in at the Division I level. 

One Eastern Conference exec talks about the modest projections his management team had for the younger James coming into his first season at USC, and how he should stick around to get more experience before declaring for the NBA Draft.  

I'll be honest, we didn't have huge expectations for [Bronny] heading into the season. I know some mocks had him as a top-20 pick, but our group didn't view him as a player of that caliber. I don't know if he's going to come back [to school]. We'd recommend he go back, just because this season didn't get off on the right foot. He was behind due to the cardiac episode, being away from the team, the rehab, etc. So I think going back and continuing to fine-tune these skills [would help], because the offseason is when you really develop stuff. College coaches are trying to win games [during the season]. With the time he lost, he was trying to play catch-up all year. But I don't know what Klutch is going to advise him to do. 

Another exec also recommended that Bronny stay in school: 

If he goes back, I think he'll have a better year, because hopefully his health is fully stabilized and he can have a full year of training and focus, and maybe the expectations are lowered so he can just play. I think that could be really helpful. I don't know that it changes his trajectory that much, but he'll have a better year I'd imagine.

In the end, though, the decision might be based more around LeBron James than Bronny. We all know that LeBron has said he wants to play in the NBA with his son, and teams around the Association are salivating at that opportunity. 

"I'm dead serious -- I think a lot of teams will take the stance that they'll draft him if there's a 1% chance LeBron will join them," said the first exec. "So, I'll be surprised if he doesn't enter (the draft)". 

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