LeBron James was once the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft, but his son's professional future isn't quite as clear. At points Bronny has been projected as high as the lottery in the 2024 Draft, but an offseason cardiac arrest followed by an uneven freshman season at USC have hurt his stock. On Monday, ESPN released its first 2025 mock draft, and Bronny, who had previously been considered a likely one-and-done candidate, was listed as the No. 39 overall pick after what would be his sophomore campaign.
This led to quite a bit of aggregation, with fans and media alike wondering if this meant that Bronny now plans to remain at USC for at least one more season. But the elder James? He didn't take too kindly to the speculation. In two now-deleted tweets, he admonished the speculators for putting too much weight on mock drafts.
"Can yall please just let the kid be a kid and enjoy college basketball," James tweeted on Monday. "The work and results will ultimately do the talking no matter what he decides to do. If y'all don't know he doesn't care what a mock draft says, he just WORKS! Earned Not Given!"
"And to all the other kids out there striving to be great just keep your head down, blinders on and keep grinding," he continued in a second tweet. "These Mock Drafts doesn't matter one bit! I promise you! Only the WORK MATTERS!! Let's talk REAL BASKETBALL PEOPLE! ✌🏾👑"
James has since taken the tweets down, but it's worth noting here that he has played a fairly significant role in the media cycle surrounding his son even beyond giving him his name. The elder James has spoken at length about his desire to one day play with his son in the NBA. Following a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in January, he said that Bronny "could play for us right now. Easy."
For better or worse, this sort of attention is what the James family signed up for. Despite James' pleas, Bronny (averaging 5.5 points this season at USC) is no longer a kid. He's a major NBA prospect whose very famous name will attract plenty of attention. The speculation may be a bit much, especially since the mock draft that started all of this contained no substantive reporting about what Bronny is thinking or what teams think of him, but ultimately college players of his caliber and fame are going to draw significant coverage no matter what their fathers think.
