Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis praised the team’s decision to select Bronny James with the No. 55 pick in the 2024 NBA draft.
“He’s very good defensively,” Davis said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “He can read the floor very well. I think he’s a really good playmaker. I saw him work out a couple times besides the [Klutch Sports] pro day and working with a big — his reads, reading the defense, making the right passes — that was really impressive to me.”
Davis reportedly told McMenamin ahead of the second round that he supported the plan to draft Bronny.
James was a former McDonald’s All-American who appeared in 25 games throughout his freshman season at USC, making six starts.
James and Lakers superstar LeBron James became the NBA’s first active father-son duo on Thursday. However, Davis is confident that the 19-year-old will be able to emerge from his dad’s shadow and carve out his own role in the association.
“But one thing about Bronny, from what I’ve seen and what I heard, he wants to create his own path and he doesn’t want to be — even though he’s LeBron James’ son, he don’t want be seen as that,” Davis said, per McMenamin. “And I think having that mindset and trying to create his own path is going to work out for him. … Who knows, he might come in and be ready to play for us.”
James is coming off a freshman season at USC that was filled with inconsistency, as he bounced between the starting lineup and the bench. In 25 appearances, he averaged 4.8 points in 19.3 minutes per game on 36.6/26.7/67.6 shooting splits.
It’s worth noting that he didn’t make his Trojans debut until Dec. 2023 after suffering cardiac arrest during a summer workout. He was previously a 5-star prospect and the No. 22 player in the 2023 recruiting class (via 247Sports’ composite rankings).
James may have a chance to compete for a rotation spot in his rookie year with Los Angeles, as 2023-24 starting point guard D’Angelo Russell still hasn’t made a decision regarding his $18.6 million player option and could depart in free agency if he declines it (via Spotrac).
While it wouldn’t result in the No. 55 pick earning a starting spot by any means, it could open up some reserve minutes. Regardless of his playing time in his first year, James already has the support of Davis.
