Did Bronny James plan to play in Australia? Exploring LeBron's agent's reported threat to play overseas
The 2024 NBA draft reached its conclusion on Thursday, and Bronny James's destination ended up being the one most expected. He's going to the LA Lakers after only working out for the Lakers and the Phoenix Suns.
However, in the buildup before the pick on ESPN's NBA draft coverage, former NBA general manager Bob Myers had an interesting report regarding James's future.
"(Super agent) Rich Paul, is calling teams (not named Lakers or Suns), and saying 'Don't draft Bronny, or else he's playing in Australia,'" Myers said.
Paul is the agent of both LeBron James, who has said he wants to play in the league with his son, and Bronny James.
The Suns, who picked 56th, never got a chance. The Lakers took Bronny with the 55th pick in the draft.
Bronny James had a rough freshman season with the USC Trojans as he finished with 4.8 points, 2.1 assists, 2.8 rebounds, and 0.8 steals in 19.4 minutes per game.
Was Bronny James going to play in Australia?
While it would have been extremely interesting to see a talent like Bronny James heading overseas to Australia, this is not going to happen. The respect that Rich Paul has as an NBA agent may have forced teams not to attempt to stronghold the Lakers for Bronny James.
The father and son combo can become the first in NBA history to play at the same time and on the same team. LeBron will turn 40 in December as he plays his 22nd season. Only one player, Vince Carter, has played 22 NBA seasons.
The Lakers also selected Tennessee's Dalton Knecht with the 17th selection in the first round.
Bronny James comes in with a lot of intrigue as Rich Paul reportedly told teams he will not be a two-way player and will be on the team's roster.
With the amount of power that the James family has, Bronny James' draft journey is something that has never happened in the history of the NBA and may never happen again. The threat of playing overseas, according to former Golden State general manager Bob Myers, was another tactic to force his way to the Lakers.
That's exactly what happened. The threat of going overseas was probably never going to happen.