According to Rob Pelinka, when he talked with Bronny James during the draft process, playing with his father, LeBron, rarely came up.
Maybe you haven't heard, but the newest Laker, Bronny James, is related to LeBron James.
While vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka is "excited" to see' NBA history' with LeBron and Bronny playing together, that was a topic he avoided discussing during their pre-draft conversations with Bronny, as he revealed when speaking to the media on Thursday.
"We really kept the draft process to Bronny being a Laker and what we felt like we needed to do to help him become great and the core qualities in him that we saw," Pelinka said. "We didn't talk a lot about [playing with LeBron] just because, again, we want to respect his dad's decision as a free agent. So that wasn't really something that came up."
While I understand making it about Bronny, I figured you'd at least want to gauge the temperature and see how he'd feel about playing with this dad. Perhaps Pelinka didn't see it as an issue, or maybe he doesn't worry about the added pressure playing with LeBron could bring the rookie.
After all, Bronny has had to deal with a heightened spotlight and pressure due to his family heritage his entire life, so maybe it's not something to concern oneself with regarding his on-court performance and capabilities.
Bronny had a modest freshman season for the USC Trojans last year, averaging 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists.
The numbers may not stand out, but it's important to keep in mind he also suffered a cardiac arrest the summer before his freshman year, which took him significant time to recover from.
He's healthy now and showed signs of being a decent defender in college. Now, he's taking his talents to Los Angeles.
So, while some NBA media members have an odd fixation with the selection, experts agree it's a good draft pick for the Lakers.
It's a storybook tale, and Pelinka treated Bronny like any other draftee and made the choice he felt was best for the organization's future.
Our first chance to see Bronny play for the Lakers will come at the California Classic and Las Vegas Summer League this July, when he will step on the floor with the Lakers' top pick, Dalton Knecht and their newest two-way players, Armel Traore and Blake Hinson.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates8.8.
