Bronny James gets honest about dealing with criticism, negativity

Bronny James may not ever be anything other than LeBron James’ son on a basketball court. That’s the pressure of being the son of arguably the greatest to ever play basketball not named Michael Jordan while being a basketball player yourself.

There were cries of nepotism when the Los Angeles Lakers selected James in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft despite his 4.8 points averaged in 25 games at USC. 

Bronny has averaged just 4.7 minutes per game this season as a bench player for the Lakers. He has spent the majority of the season playing for their G League affiliate. When he does get in for the Lakers, he doesn’t produce much (just 1.6 points per contest), and after one game, in particular, he (or, rather, his father) was called out by ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith.

“I am pleading with LeBron James as a father: Stop this. We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad,” the bombastic talking head said on “First Take.”

That clip led to a heated courtside conversation between James and Smith, but rather than letting the drama get him down, Bronny recently revealed to Joe Vardon of The Athletic that he’s using the criticism to fuel his future success.

“My first thought about everything is I always try to just let it go through one ear and out the other, put my head down and come to work and be positive every day. But sometimes it just, it fuels me a little bit,” the younger James said. “I see everything that people are saying, and people think, like, I’m a f—ing robot, like I don’t have any feelings or emotions. 

But I just take that and use it as fuel for me to go out, wake up every day and get to the gym early, get my extra work in, watch my extra film every day, get better every day.”

That’s the right way to approach it as a young player. Bronny will likely never live fill the huge shoes that will be left behind by his father, and he may never even be a marginal NBA player. 

He has shown some growth this season in the G League, though, where he’s averaging 20.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game.

If he was anybody but LeBron’s son, he’d be looked at as an intriguing up-and-comer in the depths of the Lakers organization.

The problem is that he is LeBron’s son, though, so he’s going to have to learn to grow alongside all the criticism that comes along with it.

Andrew Kulha

Andrew Kulha is probably the only sports writer you know who also doubles as a mortician. Spooky! @KulhaSports