After a mixed stint at the NBA summer league this month, Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James is preparing for the start of the games that will actually count in October.
He has become a somewhat polarizing figure amidst accusations of nepotism, but in his last two summer league games, he shot well from the field. Those last two performances have generated some hope that he will at least somewhat live up to the hype.
The Lakers’ official X (formerly Twitter) account posted a video entitled “Getting to Know: Bronny James,” and in it, the son of LeBron James described himself as a combo guard who can get things done on both ends of the floor.
“Relentless defender,” the younger James said when asked to describe his game. “I can catch and shoot, knock it down, but also can create for myself and create for others.”
He mentioned seeing his famous father play as the thing that made reaching the NBA a goal for him.
“Growing up and seeing my dad in front of all the crowd and stuff, it was a dream for me,” he said.
Seeing himself being discussed as one of the nation’s best prospects in high school made him realize that he could accomplish that goal.
The No. 55 pick in June’s draft also explained why he chose to wear jersey No. 9.
“No. 9 resonated with me, especially because I had three of them tatted on me,” he said. “But Juice Wrld’s, his nine-nine-nine meaning, it’s turning everything negative and flipping it upside down.”
Juice Wrld was a star in the rap community who died in 2019 after an apparent opioid overdose. He had a tattoo of the number 999, which he admitted was an inversion of 666, something considered by extremely religious Christians to be the “mark of the beast.”
Everyone is waiting to see if the younger James can flip the criticism he and his father have been facing to become a serviceable, if not a good, NBA player in the years to come.
