Coming out of USC, Bronny James was only averaging 4.8 points. A terrifying cardiac arrest could be linked to the depleted production from the 19-year-old, who was a four-star recruit in high school. James never got to settle his feet. Yet, when the draft day rolled out, Rich Paul turned him into an exclusive pick for the Lakers, threatening teams about his overseas commitment in case they tried to pull any tricks.

In doing so, Paul ushered the teen to his dream. Bronny James became an NBA player. But at the same time, the drama and haywire process behind the same made it easy to forget that the USC alumnus was going to be a development prospect. Instead, his being made untouchable by the Lakers, before he had played a single NBA minute, might have come at an enormous cost.“For people who follow this stuff much more closely than I do kind of before the heart problems and stuff like that was a perfectly credible prospect!”

“I think they have done him a tremendous disservice. Not just the fact of picking him, but the way they have sort of rolled it out… I think that they have gone so over the top in this that they’ve really put a target on the poor kid’s back. It’s sort of detracting from them being just a basketball team,” Seth Partnow asserted when appearing on The Lowe Post. Likewise, Bronny James’ Summer League struggles have somehow earned national coverage hour after hour every second day. Why?

Every expert is speaking about LeBron James’ son’s ineptitude to be in the NBA. Is everyone forgetting that he was the 55th pick in a draft class, which was barren? The pre-draft antics had led to the 19-year-old being evaluated as a lottery pick or a collegiate star, both of which Bronny James did not turn out to be.

That’s the reason not just Stephen A. Smith, but even Zach Lowe and a few pundits just distance themselves from talking about the player. “It’s an uncomfortable topic to talk about…I was kind of just like what is the expiration date on this where we can just let him be a developmental player outside of the spotlight because I don’t know his game well enough to give you a breakdown of what he can and can’t do.”

“Are we going to do this every Summer League? Every time somebody makes a comment about him because it’s just a cycle of noise that I don’t think is helping anybody,” Zach Lowe professed. If measured on a fair scale, Bronny isn’t far from what the crowd would expect from a second-round pick. Yet, he sows flashes of his concealed potential, which became dormant after his heart surgery.

Calling back on his confidence, James has scored 25 points in his last two Summer League games after failing to score in double digits the previous two times. It’s vital to note that he has exceptional basketball instincts, his mechanics need some oiling, which comes with reps. As far as the Lakers, the attention and conversations revolving around the eldest son of LeBron James might have derailed them from truly building a competing team!

They are yet to make any significant additions to the roster that even remotely address the dilemmas they failed to tackle last season. If they stand unchanged, there truly isn’t great hope in envisioning a change of fortune from last season.

Critics will talk, but Bronny James doesn’t care

Because of his last name, draft buzz, and past comments from his father, Bronny James is evaluated through an unrelenting prism. Even though a late second-round pick, it hasn’t stopped pundits from terming him a product of nepotism or ‘not ready’ for the NBA. At just 19, being in an inescapable spotlight could have a demoralizing impact on a youthful mind. But Bronny has thick skin.

His dad once said, “I don’t know if people really understand Bronny. He doesn’t care. I actually care a little bit. When I came in [as a rookie], I wanted people to like me, and some of the things that people were saying about me kind of bothered me early on in my career.”

“He doesn’t give a f**k. He does not care about nobody. He doesn’t even listen to that stuff. He’s like the coolest. He’s like the complete opposite of his dad. His dad will say something [to address the critics]. Bro does not care,” LeBron James told ESPN in an interview earlier this month.

His unfazed demeanor seems to be slowly manifesting through his performances. Over the last two Summer League games, Bronny James has played a core part in the Lakers’ consecutive wins.

Not only that, but he has started to find his footing once again. His shots don’t seem uncomfortable and the prospect in front looks to embrace the failures he has faced in the past. It’s never easy escaping the shadow of someone more than great. But Bronny James isn’t looking to emulate his father’s greatness. The basketball prodigy is walking his own path, and scrutiny isn’t futile in his tale.