Over the past two years, LeBron James has expressed a clear desire to share the NBA spotlight with his eldest son, Bronny, before retiring from his illustrious career. While wholesome, his statements inadvertently drew a lot of eyeballs to Bronny and his journey. And it did not help that he is having an underwhelming season at USC, which has had a huge impact on his draft stock. Once considered a lottery pick for the 2024 NBA draft, he has since been left undrafted in ESPN’s January mock draft and has now been excluded from the 2024 mock drafts altogether. The 19-year-old is now projected to be the 39th overall pick in 2025.

The news certainly made waves, with the tabloids questioning Bronny’s abilities. But Papa James wasn’t about to let that slide. The Los Angeles Lakers star retaliated in a now-deleted X post, stating, “Can y’all please just let the kid be a kid and enjoy college basketball”. While some sympathized with James’ parental instincts, others, including former Detroit sports columnist Rob Parker, were quick to call him out for his hypocrisy.

Rob Parker fires shots at LeBron James

In the recent episode of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard & Rob Parker, the latter stated, “It’s the ultimate hypocrisy from LeBron… When you interject Bronny into the conversation and saying he’s better than most guys in the league and he could play for the Lakers right now you can’t ask people to back off when he’s dropped from the mock draft.”

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Notably, LeBron has on several occasions sung high praise of Bronny’s skillset, as is expected of a father. Earlier in January, after the Lakers lost 127-113 to the Memphis Grizzlies, James took a jab at his team, saying that even Bronny “could play for us right now, easy.” Although Bronny’s statistics paint a different picture from what Bron has been advertising, it is important to note that he recently recovered from a life-threatening injury scare.

In July 2023, he suffered a cardiac arrest during training and was later diagnosed with “an anatomically and functionally significant congenital heart defect.” Following the diagnosis, he underwent surgery to correct the issue, which caused him to miss the first eight games of the season. Considering his comeback from such a serious health setback, his presence on the court is indeed impressive.

Given Bronny’s current averages of 5.5 points on 37.1% shooting, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists across 19 games, it would make sense for him to stay in college for another year and hone his skills. Boogie Ellis, Isaiah Collier, and Kobe Johnson are all expected to declare for the NBA Draft this summer, which will earn him a chance to start for USC next season. However, as James has repeatedly said, the decision is Bronny’s to make.

In Signature Style, LeBron James Supports Son Bronny After USC Defeats Archrival UCLA