Lakers' Bronny James Seen as 'Secondary' NBA Prospect by Scout; Full Report Revealed

An anonymous NBA scout revealed this week that they did not view Bronny James as a high-level NBA prospect leading up to the 2024 NBA draft.

According to ESPN's Baxter Holmes, a veteran NBA scout watched Bronny at the NBA combine in May, and while they took note of some positive characteristics, they also referred to Bronny as a "secondary" prospect and "someone you have on your radar, but not a priority."

Despite questions about Bronny's ability to transition to the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers selected him with the No. 55 overall pick in the second round, making him teammates with his legendary father, LeBron James.

The scout put in their scouting report that Bronny seemed to be "humble," and added that he "appeared to be coachable, played unselfishly; that he had the reputation of having a strong work ethic and a high basketball IQ, that he was well-built physically and a good athlete."

They also wrote that Bronny "played hard, played the right way, that he was a good teammate, that he cared and had great character. That he loved the game."

Despite all of Bronny's good characteristics, the scout noted that they were unsure if Bronny would ever be an NBA player, while other executives and scouts told Holmes they didn't think Bronny was good enough to be drafted, even as a late second-rounder.

Additionally, a Western Conference executive suggested that any interest in Bronny within the league was primarily due to his relation to LeBron:

"For this whole thing to have even made it this far is surreal. Analytically, if you just had the numbers on a page and had no name attached to it, he doesn't project in any way, shape or form to be an NBA player. His measurables don't project as an NBA player. There's literally nothing about him on paper—if no name is attached to it—that makes this make sense."

After starring at Sierra Canyon High School in Los Angeles, Bronny committed to play his college basketball at USC, and he was a highly touted recruit at the time, ranking No. 28 overall in his class, per 247Sports.

Some of the excitement for Bronny's freshman season was curtailed when he went into cardiac arrest during a summer workout, which resulted in his debut getting delayed.

After missing the first eight games of the season, Bronny began his collegiate career at USC, but he never quite found his footing and averaged only 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, while shooting 36.6 percent from the field.

That low level of production suggested that Bronny may have benefited from another year of college ball, but he opted to enter the draft instead.

From the start of the pre-draft process, the Lakers were viewed as Bronny's most likely landing spot since LeBron said publicly many times that he would like to be teammates with his son.

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported that there were other teams interested in Bronny, including the Golden State Warriors, but they passed on him in order to "respect the wishes" of LeBron.

Former Warriors general manager Bob Myers also reported that Bronny's agent, Rich Paul, told every team other than the Lakers to pass on him or else he would play in Australia instead of the NBA.

All of those factors allowed the Lakers to land Bronny, but it likely also helped that there is so much skepticism across the league regarding Bronny's ability to be an impactful NBA player.