“Hypocrisy is So Thick”: Draymond Green, Stephen A. Smith, and NBA Community Slammed for Defending Bronny James’ Lakers Draft

Ever since Bronny James got drafted by the Lakers, the basketball community has been divided in their stance about the teenager. Finishing with an underwhelming freshman season at USC, averaging only 4.8 points, many believe that Bronny only got this opportunity because of his father LeBron James’ influence, even accusing him of nepotism. Meanwhile, LeBron’s peers and surprisingly the mainstream media has been pretty supportive of the move.

Amid this divide, veteran media personality Jason Whitlock called out every person who has been in favor of Bronny’s draft and slammed them for their double standard. During an episode of his podcast, Whitlock played clips of Draymond Green, Stephen A. Smith, Stephen Jackson, and more defending Bronny and applauding LeBron for using his power to get his way. One common theme in all these clips was that nepotism has been prevalent in the sports world long before the LeBron-Bronny situation, be it in ownership, management and even coaching. But somehow people are raising eyebrows now that LeBron is benefiting from it.

Rubbishing these claims, Whitlock reminded the world that there is a difference between nepotism and inheritance. Even in the case of the Lakers, Jeanie Buss became the owner of the franchise after her father Jerry Buss passed away, which is fair considering it was his money that was spent in the purchase. However, LeBron should not have that kind of influence on the Lakers’ decisions because he is an employee in the organization, Whitlock believes, “He doesn’t own the Lakers. He doesn’t own the NBA. This is classing nepotism. Someone giving an opportunity they don’t deserve and denying someone else that opportunity. The hypocrisy is so thick here, it’s embarrassing.” Then, Whitlock expressed his disappointment in all the people defending the move, even calling them “groupies” for King James.

Lakers’ plan for Bronny James could calm down nepotism talks

While the NBA community continues to debate the issue, the Lakers have already set up their plan on how to handle Bronny’s rookie season. Making sure that he does not get any preferential treatment just because he is LeBron’s son, the Lakers will reportedly play Bronny in their G League team, the South Bay Lakers, for the majority of the season. That means he is unlikely to be a part of the main roster rotation, at least for the first year of his career. Being a late second round pick, the Lakers will treat him as a developmental player and see how his game evolves over the course of the season. “For us, prioritizing player development, we view Bronny as case study one.” Head coach JJ Redick said about the rookie.

However, he is expected to make his main roster debut in the first week of the NBA season, likely to create history with LeBron by becoming the first father-son duo to share an NBA court. But once that is done, Bronny will shift to the Lakers’ original plan. With him signing a four-year $7.9 million rookie deal and LeBron agreeing to a two-year $104 million extension on the same day, the father-son duo is set to be teammates at least for the next two years. But it’s good to see that the Lakers do not plan on rushing things with the rookie. And hopefully, this fair treatment toward Bronny will calm down the nepotism accusations.

Before you go, do not forget to check out what Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato has to say about the alleged Shaq and Kobe Lakers beef. Keep checking this space for more such updates.