Gilbert Arenas Reveals Bronny James Could’ve Been the First American to Use Rich Paul’s Draft Move Against NBA With This Tactic

“If that’s nepotism, then so be it.” After Bronny James’ move to the Los Angeles Lakers was official, his agent Rich Paul stirred the controversial pot once again. Even during the draft night, his actions did not go unnoticed. Paul seemingly dared any other franchise to draft Bronny ahead of the Lakers, who had the 55th pick. Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas gave his two cents and even suggested a what-if situation regarding this whole saga.

Appearing on VLAD TV, Arenas was asked if any teams were interested in drafting Bronny ahead of the Lakers. Agent Zero replied with an emphatic yes and said, “I don’t know if anybody was listening but people got mad at Rich Paul for calling teams to say, ‘Do not pick him, he will go to Australia.'” According to Arenas, if Paul had to inform other teams like this, that means Bronny was in demand. The 42-year-old then revealed a trick many European players use.

“A lot of Europeans do it all the time. What they do is in the middle of the negotiations, they enter their names in the draft, get drafted, and then now it’s leverage against the team that they want,” Gilbert Arenas revealed on the VladTV podcast. Basically, these players can get more money overseas because now they’re technically an NBA player. He further stated that not many American players have done this before so Bronny would have been the first to do it. But James’ team didn’t want that.

As Arenas stated, Rich Paul was calling teams to inform them not to draft Bronny. ESPN’s Bob Myers revealed this ahead of the second day of the draft. Bronny was selected as the 55th overall pick in the NBA Draft. Arenas revealed that he would have been drafted in the 40s if Paul hadn’t made the call. From the 40th to the 55th pick, there were 8 guards selected ahead of Bronny. So it is possible that one of those teams might have selected the USC alum as well.

Just like the agent Rich Paul, however, Gilbert Arenas doesn’t believe it was a case of nepotism. And when Paul was surrounded by a lot of media people, he did not flinch to back his client.

Gilbert Arenas has a different take on Bronny nepotism saga

As per TMZ, Rich Paul said, “Yeah, he deserves to be in the NBA. Lot of different people say lot of different things… Often times when things happen in a positive way, people decide how they want to view it.” Later, Paul also said that Bronny James would have been drafted even if his name was “John Smith.”

Gilbert Arenas felt that the entire LeBron helping Lakers draft Bronny is viewed negatively. And the people who are saying negative things it is because of their own insecurities. As per Agent Zero, all King James is trying to do is provide an opportunity to his son as a father and Arenas doesn’t feel anything wrong in it.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.