Bronny James’ draft projections were affected way before he declared for the same. During his freshman season with USC, he suffered from a cardiac arrest, thoroughly depleting his output as a McDonald’s All-American talent. Furthermore, controversy sparked when he measured three inches under his listed height of 6’4″ during the draft combine. The NBA realm looked concerned and began accusing the 19-year-old of fabricating his true height. Although, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

During the Bill Simmons podcast, Ryen Russillo joined the segment to discuss the stories revolving around the teenage basketball star. The veteran NBA personality defended Bronny from the ‘liar’ accusations because the NBA changed something in their draft combine process only since last season.

“Now the six one and a half, I think it’s also important to point out that they stopped doing the combine measurement in shoes” Russillo noted on the Bill Simmons podcast. “So basically, like everybody’s height was a lie. Everyone’s height was a lie for every one of you right now. Your favorite player wasn’t actually as tall as he was listed”.

Before last year, every NBA draft prospect’s height was measured both with and without shoes. According to Russillo, the measurement with shoes would be listed on the official website like ESPN. An example of this could be Jrue Holiday, a peak draft comparison for Bronny James. According to the NBA’s website, he stands at 6’4″. However, during the day of his draft combine, the defensive expert measured at 6’3″ without shoes, a fact that isn’t displayed on the website.

The only difference in the cases is that for Bronny James there was no facility to measure himself in shoes. Of course, he can’t magically grow three inches when wearing shoes. But the disparity is surely a lot more acceptable than before when the details were unknown. Other peers of his are having to deal with the same issue. Maybe it is time the Bronny James ‘liar’ slander stops after all.

Bronny James has a lot better case to be drafted now

Before traveling to Chicago for a combine, Bronny James receiving any consideration to be drafted seemed bleak. He didn’t have breathtaking numbers in college. There was no certainty of his health and he had measured below his listed height. Everything seemed to be working against him. That was only until the drills and scrimmages began.

Bronny James managed to swoon several scouts during his NBA draft combine. He had one of the best vertical jumps and ranked second among all participants in the shooting drills. His two scrimmage performances stamped his reputation as a ferocious defender with clever instincts and elite shooting ability.

At first, the mock drafts didn’t even have the 19-year-old on the board. Now he is seen as a potential second-round pick with a chance of being drafted early in the first round. The eldest son of LeBron James is only concerned with making it to the NBA and letting his work speak for itself. He doesn’t have outlandish dreams but a grounded vision and tremendous focus to achieve them.

Do you think Bronny James gets drafted? To get a better understanding of his future, watch Shaq’s former agent Leonard Armato speak of the teenage sensation in this video below.