Bronny James will begin living his NBA dream as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers , setting the stage for him to become his legendary father's teammate.
It's a story fit for Hollywood with an Akron flavor.
The oldest son of Lakers superstar LeBron James , the 19-year-old Bronny James was chosen Thursday by LA in the second round (No. 55 overall) of the NBA draft .
Akron native LeBron James has until Saturday to decline the $54.1 million player option on his contract and become an unrestricted free agent, but even if he does opt out, re-signing with the Lakers would seem to be a foregone conclusion with the franchise's selection of Bronny James.
Bronny James was born in Cuyahoga Falls and spent the early years of his life in Northeast Ohio, where his dad bought a house in Bath Township as a Cavaliers rookie No. 1 overall draft pick in 2003.
NBA draft: Bronny James wants to make name for himself on a hoops journey with Akron roots
This is the first time a son has been drafted with his dad still an active NBA player, according to ESPN Stats & Info .
Danyelle Love , a former North High School basketball standout, longtime AAU coach and close friend of Bronny James' grandmother, Gloria James , recently said she would consider it "simply a blessing" for the famous father-son tandem to be on the same NBA team.
"I've never seen it before. It's just a historic moment that I don't think will repeat itself too often," said Love, who served as Bronny James' first basketball coach when he played hoops at the Ed Davis Community Center in Akron at the age of 4.
Bronny James averaged 4.8 points on 36.6% shooting from the field, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists last season as a freshman at the University of Southern California . In May, he impressed during the NBA Combine in Chicago by finishing second in the 3-point shooting drill (19-of-25).
A 6-foot-1½, 210-pound guard, James graduated in 2023 from Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, California. He then played 25 of 33 games in his lone collegiate season after suffering cardiac arrest during a USC practice on July 24, 2023. He was hospitalized for three days and underwent surgery to treat a congenital heart defect .
In the past, LeBron James , 39, said he wanted to play on the same NBA team as Bronny . Yet, the dad who graduated from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and went on to become the league's all-time leading scorer later explained he could envision the eldest of his three children as a teammate or an opponent in the league.
ESPN analyst and former Golden State Warriors General Manager Bob Myers said Thursday on the air Rich Paul, the agent for LeBron and Bronny James, called teams during the second round and told them not to select the younger James or else he would go play professionally in Australia. Myers depicted Paul's reported strategy as an effort to ensure Bronny James would be available to the Lakers at No. 55 overall. In the end, it's where he was taken.
On a related note, the Lakers recently hired JJ Redick as their head coach. LeBron James and Redick had been co-hosting a basketball podcast called "Mind the Game."
Love said it "would be amazing" for LeBron and Bronny James to play together at basketball's highest level.
"I think it's just a dream come true for LeBron and just an honor and a privilege for his son and for us as Akronites to watch it," she said.
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Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Bronny James picked by LeBron's Lakers in Round 2 of NBA draft
