NBA insider Ramona Shelburne made quite a surprising claim during her appearance on the Mason & Ireland Show on Tuesday. When discussing Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James‘ future, Shelburne said he didn’t instruct the team to draft his son, Bronny James, in 2024.
“I’m going to say something, and people are not going to believe me, but I have reason to believe I’m correct,” Shelburne said. “… I don’t think LeBron asked the Lakers to draft Bronny.”
As one would imagine, the co-hosts couldn’t quite believe what they had just heard. It had been widely presumed that the Lakers selected Bronny with the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft because LeBron wanted them to.
Despite the pushback, Shelburne stood by her comment. That led to her being asked if the Lakers selected Bronny because they thought he was talented or because they thought LeBron would like that.
“I think they did this because they thought LeBron would like that,” Shelburne stated.
Shelburne says there was no direct request from LeBron or Klutch Sports Group CEO Rich Paul to the Lakers to draft Bronny. They just believed he’d like that, as did other teams who were interested in acquiring the superstar in the 2024 offseason, according to Shelburne.
“I know three other teams that had the same thought, ‘Oh, LeBron would like that. Maybe we should draft him,'” Shelburne said. “And I can name you those teams… The Golden State Warriors considered him. The Dallas Mavericks, old Nico Harrison over there, and the Phoenix Suns. All three of those teams had interest in Bronny. Would they have actually taken him? I don’t know.
“I know that they had interest for the same reason that I just told you the Lakers took him,” Shelburne added. “That would make LeBron happy.”
James had a $54.1 million player option for 2024-25, and he could opt out of it and go wherever he wanted. The Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, and Phoenix Suns appear to have believed that drafting his son would tempt him to join them.
The Suns were actually the only other team, apart from the Lakers, that Bronny agreed to work out with. You wondered if he’d end up there, but they passed up on him in the Draft.
Bronny would then eventually fall to the Lakers. It’s unclear if that had any impact on LeBron’s decision, but he opted out of that player option and then signed a two-year deal to remain with the team.
What does appear clear if we go by all that Shelburne said is that the only reason Bronny, who suffered a cardiac arrest in 2023, was drafted was LeBron. Neither the Lakers nor those other teams thought he was good enough. That does make you wonder if he is going to be in the NBA once his father retires.
Bronny hasn’t done a whole lot so far in his short NBA career. The 21-year-old is averaging 1.5 points, 0.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 0.4 steals per game in 2025-26. Simply put, Bronny isn’t good enough to be in the rotation at this point. Will that change in a few years? Maybe, but you shouldn’t bet on it.
