LeBron James has been in the news this week despite being out with a groin injury for getting into a public beef with Stephen A. Smith. It started with James admonishing Smith courtside during a game, which many lip-readers and eavesdroppers claim was about Smith’s previous disparaging comments about his son, Bronny James.
Bronny is on the Los Angeles Lakers but LeBron doesn’t like him being attacked. The recent situation with Stephen A. led to fans digging up a Colin Cowherd clip from earlier this year discussing LeBron’s dislike for media members attacking his son.
“In the NBA, you have to pretend that Bronny is an NBA player because otherwise you’ll upset the King. He’s a 6’2″ guard who’s a non-point guard. I have never seen that exist in the current NBA. Go back 20 years… He’s not an NBA player. He was not a great high school player, he was good. He wasn’t a good college player, he was a college player. And he’s not an NBA player.”
“He may be a great kid, I’m sure he is. LeBron’s a nice guy, I’ve met him. But can we stop pretending about this?”
I had to run it back to make sure y’all heard the truth.,, pic.twitter.com/K1kqNe22iA
— HarrietEve9 (@HarrietEve9) March 11, 2025
The discourse around Bronny has been ridiculous from day one. He has received a disproportionate amount of coverage for a player who was selected at the end of the second draft. However, Bronny receiving a full NBA contract despite being unproven always rubbed many the wrong way.
His NBA minutes haven’t been pretty, with Bronny averaging 1.4 points in 18 games this season. All of this started after JJ Redick trusted Bronny with meaningful minutes in a game against the Philadelphia 76ers earlier this year, leading to Tyrese Maxey annihilating the rookie guard.
It was a horrible showing for Bronny, which prompted Stephen A to plead with LeBron to remove his son from the NBA.
“I’m really, really trying to be as respectful as I possibly can be towards LeBron James—one of the top two or three players in the history of basketball that we should and will all miss when he is gone. I am pleading with LeBron James as a father: stop this. Stop this.”
“I’m asking the greatest player in the game—one of the top two players in the history of basketball, an ambassador for this game, the face of the league, a four-time champion, a guy that’s gone to 10 NBA Finals, one of the greatest we have ever or will ever see—who is a basketball savant.”
Bronny has had some positive moments since, establishing himself in the G League as a decent two-way guard option but still not performing at a level that says he’s NBA-ready. He’s averaging 20.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 5.2 assists in the G League.
With Bronny being a professional player in his own right, he’s bound to receive criticism. However, it seems everyone does discuss him as an extension of LeBron instead of as his own person.
It’s a hard situation to overcome for the young guard as he’ll always be in his father’s shadow. But if the media can’t talk about him without bringing up his father, he’ll never get the opportunity to be his own man either.
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