From a basketball perspective, Bronny James is nothing special. As a freshman at USC, he put up pedestrian numbers on an average team.
Fellow USC Trojan Isaiah Collier was on the PAC 10 All-Freshman team. Despite finishing with no postseason accolades, Bronny could have shown flashes of his skills in the NIT Tournament, but the 15-18 USC Squad turned down the opportunity to showcase his skills. Then to make things worse, his coach, Andy Emfield, quit. And he didn't quit to go to Indiana, Kansas, or North Carolina, he's going to SMU. A teams that's been to the NCAA Tournament twice in the last 30 years.
But things aren't all bad at USC. They still have Collier, they're adding Dennis Rodman's kid, and Eric Musselman is in as the new head coach. I used to listen to Eric Musselman on the Jim Rome Show, he has one of the highest basketball IQ's of anyone you're ever going to meet.
But instead of riding things out at USC, in the last 2 days Bronny has announced:
He is exploring the NBA Draft.
He is entering the Transfer Portal.
Now the draft part is laughable. No one is going to draft him unless they want to lure his Dad to their team. He may actually be worth a late-second round draft pick for that reason. It is, at minimum, FEASIBLE, that the Lakers would draft Bronny to keep his Dad happy.
But you know what Bronny's ceiling is in Basketball? The same as Pete Rose Jr.'s ceiling was in Baseball. (Look it up.)
Now you may think I'm just a jerk (possible), who doesn't like LeBron (definitely true), but there's one small fact that everyone is overlooking, including Alpha Dad LeBron, and I'm going to put it in all capitals, because it is the point of the whole article:
BRONNY JUST HAD A HEART ATTACK LAST YEAR!!!
When the internet had a collective pouring out of emotion while praying for LeBron's Son, we were having none of it. Our angle was Heart Defect or Drugs.
Let's say I was an NBA General Manager, and we're not talking about Bronny, but literally ANY peripheral NBA Prospect.
Would I pick any prospect with a heart defect and pay him millions? No.
Would I pick any prospect that did so many drugs it gave him a heart attack? No.
If Bronny was a generational talent, like his Dad, I may role the dice on him if he fell down the draft board. But an average player with heart issues? I wouldn't touch that kid with a 10 foot pole. On the record, the James Family still hasn't disclosed Bronny's heart condition.
But we're still not done. As mentioned above, USC is not a college basketball blue-blood. Last year, Yahoo! rated the Trojans as the 64th traditionally rated team in the nation. So he's going to go to a better team and play more? Doubtful. Or he's going to a worse team and risk falling off draft boards? Also Doubtful.
Now local Ohio blogs are begging Bronny to go to Ohio State. Ain't gonna happen.
According to Adran Wojnarowski, Bronny may transfer to Duquesne. What's at Duquesne? The coach there is LeBron's High School Teammate Dru Joyce. I agree with Woj on his take. LeBron has spoken out against Rich Privilege before, so it would be ironic if he used his stature to further his kid's career.