Coach Prime has ‘Prime’ advice for Bronny James amid the new environment he finds himself in. Although he did not get drafted in the first round, he got drafted by the Lakers at No. 55. A win’s a win. The draft might have wrapped up, but the real fight for Bronny starts now. Bronny James might have promised his viewers a historic feat of a dad-son duo playing in the league on the same team. However, the pressure on him to sync with his father is piling up. Amid the chaos, Deion Sanders has the perfect advice for the rookie Laker to calm his nerves down.
Being a father of two sons, most likely to face the same pressure, Deion Sanders has already thought about and discussed it with Shedeur and Shilo. Prime shared the same advice with LeBron James’s son before he made his debut as a Laker. “When he steps out there they want to see the daddy. They ain’t checking for Bronny, they want to see the daddy,” Prime said during his interview with Carrington Fish.
Prime says this out of his special bond with LeBron James. It was only in a couple of years after LeBron James got drafted in the 2003 NBA draft that he rose to fame. Yes, it did take him about 6 years to bring home a National Championship, but he was a fan favorite before that. Since Bronny James has just played one season with USC during his NCAA career, he would naturally need much more time to adjust to the cutthroat competitiveness of the Lakers, let alone him playing at the caliber of his father.
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Hence, Deion Sanders’ words come as a soothing balm to the mounting pressure on Bronny James to be perfect from Day 1, just because he is LeBron James’s son. “Bronny is coming. He may not get there as quick as his father arrived. But he’s coming,” Deion Sanders put it in words for Bronny James. However, if it were to be about his own kids, Deion Sanders would also give the same answer to them: not to compare themselves with their fathers.
Deion Sanders’ advice for his kids
Given the evergreen legacy that Prime has, it was only natural for his sons to feel the same pressure to match up with their dad that Bronny James is facing now. It won’t be too soon either, as Shedeur Sanders is set to enter the NFL draft just next year. Once he enters the pro league, Prime is sure that Shedeur will face a similar type of pressure to perform as perfectly as his father did back in his NFL days. To make sure that they don’t feel the same, Prime iterated that he has already set the tone straight with his sons.
“I told my kids you don’t have to be me, man,” Sanders said, explaining his conversation with his kids. However, he had one thing he expected from them. “I need you to be the best,” Prime said. Will Shedeur Sanders succumb to a fate like Bronny James too, where he will not be drafted in the first round? Or will he be the hottest QB in the draft market? Only time will tell.