Bronny James (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
Bronny James is growing into a big-time college basketball recruit.
The son of the king is making a name for himself on the high school level where Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, is blossoming into a big-time college basketball recruit.
LeBron, famously, skipped college and went directly to the NBA as the No. 1 pick out of St. Vincent-St. Mary high school in Akron. Living in the giant shadow of your famous father can be difficult for some as they try to forge their own identity and make a name for themself.
Bronny is beginning to do just that after finishing his freshman season at powerhouse Sierra Canyon High School. Minutes were hard to come by for the freshman on a roster full of Division I athletes, but Bronny will get his time next season as a sophomore and still has two more years as an upperclassman for him to grow, develop his game and determine where he’s going to play his college basketball.
ESPN ranked Bronny as the No. 24 recruit in his class with a four-star designation and rank him as the No. 4 point guard in the nation.
The 6-foot-2, 175-pound Bronny is still young so he doesn’t have the same 6-foot-9, 265-pound proportions of his dad. While it might seem unfair to compare the two players, especially considering Bronny was a reserve player as a high school freshman, his ceiling is undeniably high.
Bronny James developing into a big-time NCAA basketball recruit.
Bronny will have opportunities to play for college basketball blue bloods like Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas and UCLA by the time he’s at the forefront of recruiting boards and battles among the game’s biggest coaches. Duke is my prediction today based on LeBron’s relationship with Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski who has coached him in the Olympics.
It’s fair to speculate what type of ceiling Bronny has considering his bloodlines and his father being one of the best basketball players to ever do it. If Bronny continues to grow over the next few years and gets closer to his dad’s height, he will grow from a combo guard game to a point forward type of game, just like his father.
He’ll need to get better as a shooter, but then again, so does every single high school basketball player, but what he does well at this early age is handle the ball and distribute to his open teammates. He sees the court so well and plays quickly because he is able to read and diagnose on the fly.
If Bronny doesn’t grow up to be 6-foot-9 and grows into a 6-foot-4 type of player, he’ll still be a coveted point guard with some combo skills, just like his dad’s friend, Dwyane Wade who could dribble and drive to the rack or lead an offense and be a facilitator in the mold of today’s modern NBA lead guard.
You can check his highlights for a sense of the type of flair he brings to the court and the things he already does so well in the clip below. The ceiling is the roof for Bronny who should continue to soar up the recruiting rankings as he grows physically and as his game develops as well.
Bronny will always have to carry the weight of expectations of being “LeBron’s son” but he can learn about how to cope and deal with that because his dad was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in high school and had his prep games on ESPN. He was living in the spotlight when he was able to get his driver’s license. It’s a tough task for a young person to be forced to deal with, but this comes with the territory and they’re aware of that, and it’s pretty impressive to see the family business continue this way.
Wouldn’t it be something if LeBron was able to play long enough for Bronny to make his NBA debut? Now, wouldn’t it be something special if they two were able to play against each other, or even on the same team?
That would be one of the best stories in NBA and professional sports history.
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