"He is gonna catch strays because of you": 3x SB champ urges LeBron James to hold off on hype for Bronny James following ESPN call-out
Shannon Sharpe doesn't seem to think that LeBron James should be shielding his son so much from outside criticism. Recently, Bronny James, who's currently with the USC Trojans, was dropped from ESPN's 2024 mock draft and the famous sports outlet projected him to be drafted in 2025.
This led to LeBron James coming out to defend his son from outside naysayers, in a tweet that was later deleted by the Los Angeles Lakers star:
"Can y'all please just let the kid be a kid and enjoy college basketball, the work and the results will ultimately do the talking no matter what he decides to do. If y'all don't know he doesn't care what a mock draft says.
"He just works! Earned not given! And to all the other kids out there striving to be great. Just keep your head down blinders on and keep grinding these mock drafts doesn't matter one bit. I promise you. Only the work matters. Let's talk real basketball people"
This led three-time Super Bowl champion Shannon Sharpe to give a humble piece of advice to the NBA legend on how not to interfere in his son's development. Here's what Sharpe said on his podcast "Club Shay Shay":
"Look, the comparison was going to be there. But where LeBron needs to be careful is when Bronny plays well and you say that he is better than some players in the NBA. People are going to remember you said that. That’s what you have to be careful of. He is supposed to say that of his son.
But you have to be careful of that. LeBron has to understand. He is gonna catch strays because of you. Let him develop, he is gonna be what he is gonna be.”
Bronny James' Numbers Ain't Stellar: LeBron James' son isn't NBA caliber yet
While much has been made about the possibility of Bronny and LeBron James linking up on the same team for one last dance of the latter's career the fact is the former is not yet at the level of playing NBA basketball.
Bronny James is averaging 5.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game with a 37.1% field goal percentage. Notably, none of those stats rank even in the top 150 players in the nation.