Ever since he was drafted last summer, Bronny James has been a lightning rod of discussion for pundits and fans alike. His rookie season intensified the dialogue as he vacillated between strong G League performances and long periods of inactivity on the Lakers’ bench.
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For sure, it was an uneven first year for Bronny, but he showed glimpses of being an NBA rotation player. After watching him play in the recently concluded Summer League, it’s clear that the 20-year-old is ready to build on what he did in his first year.
Bronny looked more confident than before, averaging 14.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists over four games to stake an early claim to more playing time in JJ Redick’s rotation. He is slowly but surely arriving as a professional athlete. And Bronny always had the athletic streak that would see him do well in sports, or so Steph Curry felt the first time he met LeBron James’ son when he was a little kid.
“It was just [my] rookie year, I called [LeBron] up like, ‘Yo, I’m in Cleveland.’ He’s like ‘Come to the crib in Akron,’ and I was born in Akron, so I’m like, ‘I’m going to Akron’,” Steph recalled on the 360 With Speedy podcast.
Once Curry got there, he marveled at LeBron’s setup, which included, as Steph put it, “a big old video wall of 16 different screens.” LeBron further amazed him when he invited him to go bowling on his in-home lane. “What are you talking about?” Steph remembered thinking. “I’ve never seen that before.”
Looking back, Steph thinks that LeBron knew exactly what he was doing by inviting him there before their game. “It might have been a little competitive advantage for him, ’cause my wrist was hurting after bowling, and I was like, ‘Damn, am I gonna be able to shoot tomorrow?'”
Nevertheless, Steph got to see Bronny, who was only five at the time, and he was impressed. “I remember how athletic Bronny looked and how fast he ran. I was like, ‘He [is] going somewhere.’ And now to see him in the league is crazy,” recalled Steph.
It seems like LeBron’s plan, if there was one, worked, because his Cavs beat Steph’s Warriors the next night by a score of 114-108. LeBron scored 31 and added 12 assists, while Steph only managed 14 points and 7 assists.
Sixteen years later, LeBron and Steph are still going at it in their pursuit of basketball immortality. And Bronny has also joined the fray. He hasn’t gone head-to-head with Steph yet, having only played the Warriors in last season’s preseason finale, a game Steph did not participate.
But if Bronny continues to play the way he did in Summer League, then this upcoming season should give him a chance to go against his dad’s old friend and nemesis and show him what he can do.
