Things are starting to spiral downward for Bronny James. While the teenager was busy proving himself in the Summer League, new allegations claimed that the Los Angeles Lakers were treating him differently from other players. Amidst the misery, Draymond Green stepped in to defend the NBA rookie, adding fuel to this fire.
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Shortly after ClutchPoints’ latest Instagram post shared details from The Sun‘s report about these allegations, Green weighed in. He defended the Lakers’ special treatment of Bronny, pointing to the 19-year-old’s greater value to the franchise compared to his Summer League peers. Sharing the post from his story, the Golden State Warriors star wrote,
“Any player that is actually drafted will be showcased and favored more in summer league… These things are getting dumber and dumber”.
Draymond Green addresses favouritism allegations towards Bronny pic.twitter.com/wTgT67mNU0
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This justification downplayed the allegations which primarily revealed one aspect of the story. After all, the claims majorly circled how the Lakers’ preferential treatment of Bronny didn’t sit right with the rest of the roster, disrupting the team chemistry. An anonymous member of the Summer League roster made the bold claims,
“There was no unity between this group of guys as Bronny was the main guy and the others didn’t feel that it was right… He was treated as someone apart… That is very annoying as we didn’t feel any chemistry in this group of players… The tensions were visible, and pretty much we were all thinking about the end of the Summer League to get out of here and focus on our next step in our careers”.
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This alleged treatment made sense while looking at the bigger picture. As Green highlighted, out of the recent 14-man Summer League roster, the Lakers had only drafted Dalton Knecht and Bronny. On top of this, they signed the latter to a 4-year, $7.9 million deal. As a result, they invested more in their rookie’s development and well-being.
On the contrary, most of the roster consisted of undrafted free agents debuting in the Summer League. Many signed Exhibit-10 deals with the franchise, which offered them a one-year, minimum-salary NBA contract. Additionally, their salaries depended on optional bonus components, meaning these players had to earn every penny.
This dynamic highlighted the valuation difference between Bronny and the rest of the Summer League roster. This, in turn, justified the Lakers’ actions and Green’s statement. However, this special treatment needs to end once the NBA season begins. Otherwise, the youngster might walk into a controversial future.
