The Lakers signed Bronny at No. 55, the NBA record was officially born, James excitedly promised, the American media exposed more draft insiders, and the Lakers were the biggest winners of the draft!
Text: Lao Kan Kanqiu
Editor|Lao Kan Kanqiu
The NBA2024 annual draft has come to an end, and compared to the excitement of last year's draft, this year is indeed a lot more deserted. Despite this, the draft process was still full of surprises, with French player Risachet unexpectedly elected as the top pick (Hawks), the Wizards also upset the selection of French center Sarr with the top pick, and the Rockets used the scout pick to get sharpshooter Shepard. I have to say that this year's draft is the first year of the center, and France is the biggest winner of this draft.
However, the biggest favorite this year is not the top spot, nor is it any player who won the lottery in an upset, but the most popular is James's eldest son Bronny. In fact, Bronny was not selected in the first round, although it was a bit surprising but reasonable, after all, Bronny did not have James's super talent, only 1.88 meters tall, and three points and breakthroughs are also shortcomings, however, in view of James's influence and the blessing of the draft year, there are still many teams that want to bet, but under the operation of Fu Paul, the Lakers finally won Bronny with the No. 55 pick. In doing so, James and Bronny became the first father-son duo in NBA history to play on the same team, setting an NBA record.
Subsequently, the American media NBACentral exposed more inside stories of the Lakers' draft. According to reports, after Bronny decided to participate in the NBA draft this summer, he only tried out for the Suns and Lakers, and impressed both teams, his athleticism and projection are very stable, and some media have exposed Bronny's tryout pictures, in which the three-point shooting has indeed improved a lot. Especially for the Lakers, general manager Pelinka has revealed that he is very optimistic about Bronny's performance. In addition, according to a follow-up report by Lakers reporter Dave McMenamin, one of the team's two cores, Thick Eyebrows, also personally participated in Bronny's tryout, and spoke highly of it, and said: He is very optimistic about Bronny's draft prospects, and he will not be surprised if the Lakers are finally selected.
However, the Lakers did not use the No. 17 pick to select Bronny in the first round, but instead picked up the University of Tennessee's sharpshooter Knecht (projected to be in the top 10). After Bronny fell to the second round, the outside world was speculating about which team would take the legendary son first, however, according to the American media ESPN basketball commentator Bob Myers (former Warriors general manager), an insider revealed: Bronny's agent Rich Paul (also James's agent) called the rest of the league after the first round, warning them not to select Bronny in advance, and threatened that if these teams insisted on choosing, he would let Bronny go to Australia to play!
In the end, the Lakers got their wish and took Bronny with the No. 55 pick at the end of the second round, which was really worth it. And Bronny also entered the league as he wished, cooperating with his father James on the same stage and competing in the NBA. After successfully winning Bronny, the American media also posted a celebration picture of the Lakers war room, after General Manager Pelinka finalized the choice of Bronny, he high-fived all the staff in the conference room to celebrate, and then grinned, and the new coach Redick also applauded next to him, also looking very happy.
In addition, after seeing his son being selected by the team, James was even more excited and continued to chant, shouting: Great, this is unimaginable! In the subsequent session, James was also in a high mood, and excitedly promised that he would accompany his son to play basketball for a few more years and would not retire prematurely!
I have to say that the Lakers are really the biggest winners of this draft. not only selected the sharpshooter Knecket (three-point shooting rate of nearly 40%) in the original lottery area, but also won the long-awaited Bronny, to say a joke, so that Pelinka can 'coerce the prince to order the princes', James's next contract extension will definitely not have any obstacles.
Subsequently, the NBA stars issued a separate message to congratulate Bronny on his selection to the NBA.
Lakers Magic Johnson tweeted: "First of all, congratulations to Bronny on being selected for the Lakers, this is obviously a historic moment, the first time in NBA history that a father and son were born on the same stage, I am very much looking forward to Bronny wearing a Lakers jersey in the Summer League, that must be a show I must watch!" ”
Hawks star Dejounte Murray also said: "James must be very relieved, when he and his son are playing in the same Lakers jersey, it is crazy, still to pay tribute to Bronny!" ”
It is worth mentioning that the Lakers have repeatedly rumored that they are going to pursue Murray of the Hawks this summer. Given that the Hawks have started the rebuilding process, it is believed that many teams are paying attention to this offensive and defensive guard, and according to Yahoo Sports reporter Fischer, the Lakers have prepared enough chips to offer Murray!