The Lakers have a first and second round draft pick they could use to select Bronny James, but is that the best path forward for the franchise?
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Bronny James is an NBA prospect Lakers fans are very familiar with given that his father is LeBron James. With reports indicating Bronny is staying in the NBA Draft and the combine underway, there is a lot of buzz regarding the former USC Trojan.
LeBron may have eased off his desire to play with his son, but the prospect has to be alluring. With that in mind, should the Lakers take a shot and draft Bronny in the 2024 Draft? That is the topic of discussion for this week’s NBA Reacts survey
The Lakers have two picks they could use on Bronny: No. 17 and No. 55.
However, the Lakers don’t have full control of the No. 17 pick just yet due to the Anthony Davis trade. The Pelicans can either take the Lakers 2024 first round draft pick or the 2025 pick. The expectation is that the Pelicans will take the 2025 pick, allowing the Lakers to use their first round draft pick this year.
While the Lakers reportedly are not likely draft Bronny James and prefer to trade the pick, nothing is set in stone. Perhaps Bronny drops to 55th and the Lakers can select him there, or maybe the Lakers make a trade to move up in the second round in order to secure LeBron’s son.
Last season, the Lakers executed a trade to select Maxwell Lewis, so it isn’t an abnormal thing to do.
Bronny is currently at the NBA Draft Combine and has registered a 40.5-inch vertical and shot relatively well during his drills. Perhaps he’s more than just his name as he has legitimate NBA value worth considering.
Bronny James crushes the “side-mid-side” drill and goes 17/22 from 3 pic.twitter.com/wFR9wiPkPR
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) May 14, 2024
The Lakers are not just in a draft Bronny or not scenario. They can also select a different prospect or package multiple future first round picks to attain a star. The question is, which option is better for Los Angeles?
If you draft a player, the pressure will be clear as the team is trying to win with LeBron James and Anthony Davis right now.
And while the Lakers have found success in the draft, it’s usually a slow process taking a couple of years, so it’s unlikely a draft pick could make the difference between being a contender or a pretender in the West during their rookie season, even if they are a quality player.
If you go all in and trade it all for a star like Trae Young, then that’s your last big move of this era. You had better get that right because, after that, there will be no rebuild opportunities or ways to improve substantially, so that player would be worth such a huge investment. Is there a player out there truly worth going all in on?
If the possibility exists, should the Lakers draft Bronny? Is that a better path forward, or is this draft all about trading picks? Vote and share your thoughts below!
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.
