While the Lakers seem pretty aligned in their decision to draft Bronny James, it may have been Jeanie Buss who made the final call to select him.
It came as little surprise when the Lakers drafted Bronny James with one of the final picks of the second round this spring. Despite some reservations about his game after an abbreviated season with USC, the Lakers rolled the dice on Bronny hoping the best is yet to come for him.
There are plenty of basketball arguments to be made for drafting him. For a Lakers franchise that has long taken care of it’s stars, there are plenty of other reasons to draft Bronny, the son of the franchise’s star.
Whatever weighed most in that decision, it was actually an interesting person who may have made the final call on drafting him. Rich Paul appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Wednesday and, while discussing all the talk of nepotism with Bronny and LeBron, revealed that it was Jeanie Buss who made the call on drafting Bronny.
“Jeanie decided she’s making this call and she’s been able to see Bronny in all aspects, not only from a basketball perspective but also from a character perspective and he has everything in the lines with the Lakers brand and so you have to make that type of call. At the end of the day, we’re not going to spend too much time on that. Bronny has to work his way and he will.”
Now, to be clear, I don’t think Jeanie came flying in and overrode everyone to make this selection. The Lakers seem to have been pretty aligned from front office to coach in drafting Bronny and acknowledging that he’s a development player.
But, interestingly, Paul name-dropped Jeanie and not Rob Pelinka or JJ Redick or anyone else with that quote. It feels pretty deliberate that he mentioned Jeanie.
It wouldn’t be above Jeanie to want to do both the sentimental thing and the thing that takes care of a star. She was around when the Lakers handed Kobe Bryant a huge contract in his final years in the league. I don’t think it’s irrational to think this is in the same vein.
Whatever the motivations were, Bronny landing on the Lakers was of little surprise and, hopefully, will have a pleasant outcome.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
