"The nicest way to say that he sucks": $5.8 million NIL-valued Bronny James faces flak from fans after ESPN’s 2024 mock Draft snub
Much has been talked about the fact that Bronny James has become eligible to participate in the 2024 NBA draft. Several personalities around the world of both college and professional basketball have speculated if he would jump into the NBA to join his father Lebron James for the latter's last dance. Speculation went as far as to suggest that Lebron might leave the Los Angeles Lakers for whichever team was ready to draft Bronny James.
It seems that those dreams have been partially shattered, as the leading experts seemingly no longer believe he will be drafted in this year's draft, but rather in 2025. Notably, ESPN recently dropped him from their 2024 mock draft.
Some fans believe that this is a subtle way of saying he just isn't up to par with the professionals yet:
A fan pointed out that staying at USC for one more year will be the best for his development:
Several fans pointed out that Bronny James has the biggest shoes to fill as an athlete with a super-star athlete parent at the moment:
A fan made a funny quip of Lebron James postponing his retirement just to get to play pro basketball with his son:
Another pointed out that his draft stock might rise in association with his father following in his son's footsteps:
Some people just believe that Bronny James doesn't have NBA-caliber talent:
One fan pointed out that this season is no yardstick to measure Bronny's performances, due to him missing a good chunk of training due to his cardiac arrest incident:
Bronny James Numbers: Is he an NBA-caliber talent?
Bronny James is currently averaging 5.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. His field goal percentage stands at 37.1%. These numbers are far from remarkable, with James not ranking even within the top 150 players in the nation in any category.
Perhaps the best decision for his athletic development would be to continue at the collegiate level for a couple more years. Where he has shown already to be a huge success, is in the NIL revolution game, with Bronny being the top-ranked student-athlete in terms of NIL valuation, according to On3. He reportedly earns around $5.8 million, which is a million and a bit more than second-ranked Shedeur Sanders ($4.7 million).