"Will Bronny be good enough to be a first-round pick or a second-round pick at 6-3ish?" - Skip Bayless clarifies his tweet directed at Bronny James
![LeBron James with his son, Bronny James [Source: USA Today]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2022/08/e8aa2-16606887867053-1920.jpg?w=500)
Eminent sports analyst Skip Bayless defended himself after his tweet about LeBron James' son Bronny James went viral for all the wrong reasons.
LeBron "Bronny" James Jr. is all over the news after his thunderous one-handed dunk made international highlights. He was representing the California Basketball Club at the Axe Club Basketball Euro Tour in Paris, France, when he impressively threw it down against the U18 French Select. The 17-year-old's dunk sparked reactions from several pro athletes, including Steph Curry, Donovan Mitchell and, as expected, his father.
Skip Bayless sent out a cryptic tweet reacting to the dunk and received a lot of flak for hating on a teenager. On his show "Undisputed," he defended himself by saying that he was not hating but rather just commenting on the play. He said Bronny is going to be a focal point of the show moving forward. Bayless said:
"It shocked me last night when my tweet exploded, because I wasn't criticizing Bronny. I was merely commenting on a young man who is going to be a focal point for this show and everybody else from this point forward. ā¦ So, the point is, when this took off, I look back at my tweet, and I said I didn't intend this as criticism.
"I intended it as a commentary on what I saw, because I've said 'Hey, Bronny, this is my tweet. Impressive. But your dad would have dunked it left-handed.' His dad is ambidextrous."
.@RealSkipBayless responds to the reaction surrounding his tweet about Bronny James' viral dunk: https://t.co/vXZUGefN3t
Skip Bayless said that "Undisputed" is going to talk a more about Bronny in the coming years and that he will be a "focal point" of the show. Bronny could enter the NBA in 2024, at the earliest, and the national media, including Bayless, is constantly debating his potential draft spot.
Bayless said he was just commenting on a 17-year-old. To Bayless, Bronny is someone who is consistently part of national media debates and whose father was already an NBA player at that age. He said:
"I'm gonna remind everybody Bronny is almost 18 years of age, and I'm gonna remind everybody that Bronny is going into his senior year and that we constantly discuss on this show, in two years will be good enough to play alongside his father in his father's year 22? Will Bronny be good enough to be first-round pick or a second-round pick at 6-3ish?"
.@ShannonSharpe on the possibility of LeBron playing with his son Bronny:
"You're probably never going to see something like this again. To actually play with your son, it would mean more to him than winning another title." https://t.co/fUHf4lpwN7
Skip Bayless compares Bronny James to his younger brother, Bryce Maximus James
As far as LeBron James' kids go, they certainly have the genetic lottery. He is arguably the greatest player of this generation and perhaps of all time, and the way he is playing even at 37 years of age is unprecedented.
Skip Bayless believes James' two sons have different attributes linking them to their father. He believes Bronny shares James' court vision while Bryce resembles his father in raw athleticism. On "Undisputed," Bayless said:
"I've been very impressed by this young man's basketball progress. Every time I see a highlight or an extended reel of him, I say 'He's getting better.' He has his father's gift of seeing it before it happens and distributing the basketball. He looks, to me, a little better outsider shooter than his father is, just a little bit better, at that age.
"And yet, this play took my breath away, because I saw some athletic ability that I see more in Bryce than I see in Bronny. Bryce seems to have more of LeBron's explosive athleticism."
BRONNY ā BRYCE IS FINALLY HERE š„
(šø: @BrianPBosche) https://t.co/8Rue735OIW
Bayless said that he tweeted about Bronny because he was blown away by his dunk. Bayless didn't expect such explosiveness from a 6-foot-3 guard, and he was pleasantly surprised. Bayless believes the main reason why Bronny's dunk went viral is because nobody expected that from him in the first place.
Sheeesh!!! š¤Æ twitter.com/SportsCenter/sā¦