*Is it time to bench Bronny James’ preferential treatment in the NBA? That’s the issue at hand for former NFL star and podcaster Ryan Clark, who recently weighed in on the G League standout on his “The Pivot” podcast.
In his eyes, it’s a bad look for the NBA to cater to Bronny, even though he is the son of basketball icon LeBron James, not to mention his fellow teammate on the Los Angeles Lakers
Add in shuttling between both teams for an undisclosed period, playing only in G League home games, and skipping road games to allow the South Bay Lakers to save money on commercial flights and lodging at places like the Courtyard-Marriott and Clark is not a happy league supporter.
In his eyes, Bronny hasn’t put in enough work as an athlete just yet to allow him to skip games due to travel and lodging accommodations.
“What has Bronny James done that he shouldn’t be able to stay at the Courtyard-Marriott?” Clark wondered. “You say, ‘Well, they fly commercial.’ What has Bronny James done where he should be too good to fly commercial? The pros aren’t about where you came from, how you were raised, or what your parents had. Professional sports is about how well you can contribute, and you don’t get treated differently because of your parents.”
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Siding with Clark is ESPN reporter Brian Windhorst, who feels that coddling Bronny is not the way to go.
The move can be “detrimental” to the 20-year-old’s career, The New York Post reports about Windhort’s view while noting the journalist is giving a thumbs down on James’ special treatment as he mentioned from the Lakers. Overall, the team has “gone too,” according to Windorst.
Clark and Windhort’s comments come months after Bronny was picked by the Lakers in the second round of the 2024 NBA draft.
Despite the hype of seeing LeBron and Bronny suit up together and playing on the same team, Vibe mentioned that the younger James was sent to the G League to sharpen his skills.
No question, nepotism was to be expected with Bronny, who commanded his own level of fame playing for USC before entering the pros. And yes, there are folk to frown upon the special treatment, he has gotten.
But, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, it’s a necessary move for the Lakers because he’s not your typical G League competitor
“Bronny James isn’t just your normal G League player,” Charania pointed out on Nov. 19 on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“I don’t know if it’s a security thing, but there’s a different level of fanfare when he’s on the road for these G League games, a different level of everything when he’s with that G League team. How do you manage that on the road? I don’t think the door is necessarily completely shut on him playing in those road games as the G League season goes on, but as of right now that is the plan that the Lakers have laid out, and they want him to continue to shuttle back and forth, spend as much time on the active roster as possible.”
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