Rich Paul was doing what agents do, trying to steer his client where he wanted to go with the Lakers, and reportedly had been telling other teams, “If you draft him, he’ll play in Australia rather than for you.”
It worked, Bronny James stayed on the board until pick the No. 55, when the Lakers selected him. However, the Warriors seriously considered taking him at No. 52, reports Ramona Shelburne at ESPN.
“…The Golden State Warriors, who had tried to trade for James last season, weighed whether to take Bronny at No. 52. The Warriors liked Bronny’s skill set and had him on their draft board, sources said. Selecting him ahead of the Lakers, who held the 55th pick, would’ve been a shrewd move — perhaps even to entice James to sign there as a free agent. But ultimately, sources said, the Warriors opted to respect the wishes James had made clear and the Lakers signaled they would grant.”
Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob had reached out to Lakers governor Jeanie Buss during the previous season trying to initiate LeBron James trade talks, which went nowhere. Drafting Bronny as potential leverage to land LeBron wasn’t just an idea in the Warriors front office, even though LeBron (and Paul) had said the superstar wasn’t going anywhere, all of which led to calls and the Australia threat.
In the end, it wasn’t worth it for Golden State. Bronny has potential, but anyone drafted in the back half of the second round is a long shot to become an NBA rotation in the future. They could take other rolls of the dice that would not anger one of the most powerful agents around the league.
Bronny and LeBron are together in Los Angeles and don’t be surprised if the Lakers play them together early in the season, maybe opening night against Minnesota. The sense from league sources is Los Angeles would like to get it done, get past all the attention on that storyline, and then focus on Bronny spending a lot of time in the G-League and developing his game.
