NBA Exec: No One Is Thinking About Pairing LeBron, Bronny James Together Right Now

The rest of the NBA does not appear as invested in LeBron James playing with his son Bronny as the #JamesGang.

While LeBron has made it clear he wants to play his final NBA season with Bronny, who will be draft-eligible in 2024, executives who spoke to Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated have been equally clear that the pairing is not on their mind at the moment.

“People around the league aren’t spending any time thinking about this right now,” a Western Conference general manager said. “There’s so much drama every day. Things move so fast.”

Bronny James is the No. 41 player in the 2023 high school class, according to 247Sports' composite rankings. He would have no shortage of suitors if he were just a regular high school senior, but it's unlikely there would be much one-and-done talk if he did not share a name with one of the greatest basketball players in history.

Most executives, to this point, view drafting Bronny more as an avenue to land LeBron.

"I’m sure, when [Bronny becomes draft-eligible], you have to think about it: Can we get LeBron for the midlevel exception?” a front-office executive told Ballard. “But do you draft Bronny first, even if he’s not good, because you might get LeBron on the cheap? That’s kind of wild. I don’t think he’s a first-rounder, but I don’t think he’s nothing.”

If Bronny reaches the NBA more on name recognition than his game, he would be far from the first case of NBA nepotism.

But Bronny is a senior year of high school and at least a one-year stint in college away from actually making the leap to the league. By the 2024 draft, teams will have tape of him as the expected leader at Sierra Canyon and then a full year on the collegiate level. We'll also have two more years of basketball from LeBron, who will be approaching his 40th birthday by the time Bronny is draft-eligible.

Suffice it to say we're all better off taking a wait-and-see approach here.