LOS ANGELES — Gary Payton II called the moment “crazy.”
Midway through a preseason game last week in Las Vegas, the Golden State Warriors guard looked up and was guarding Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James. To see the 20-year-old competing on the same floor as his father — and now teammate — LeBron James blew his mind.
“It’s incredible,” Payton II told NBC News. “I’m sure it’s pretty dope to be able to do that.”
Very few people understand what Bronny is going through, following in the footsteps of arguably the greatest player of all time. One might be Payton II, the son of longtime Seattle SuperSonics star Gary Payton, a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team.
Golden State faced Los Angeles twice in the preseason, and Payton II made sure to go over to the younger James pregame to offer a few words of advice.
“I told him to just do it your way and have fun with it,” Payton recalled.
Bronny James was a highly touted recruit out of Sierra Canyon High School in Southern California and played one season at USC. He stepped on campus with a ton of promise, but that was derailed when he suffered cardiac arrest at a practice before the season.
James was later cleared to return and made his debut on Dec. 10 but never truly found his footing. He went on to average 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 points per game for a Trojans team that did not make the NCAA Tournament.
Rarely do players with those statistics get drafted by an NBA team, but the Lakers took Bronny in the second round with the 55th overall pick. The decision was immediately questioned by critics who claimed nepotism. If LeBron James wasn’t his father, they said, he wouldn’t have been selected.
That idea of feeling undeserving is something Payton II experienced growing up. He said kids would tell him he’d make a basketball team only because of his father. It wasn’t until he “embraced it” that he was able to fully be his own person.
Atlanta Hawks forward Larry Nance Jr. had similar moments in high school and college from players and fans. He admitted to feeling pressure to get to the NBA to prove he could live up to the high standard set by his father, a three-time All-Star and the 1984 Slam Dunk champion.
But once Nance Jr. joined the professional ranks, all of that weight off his shoulders dissipated. Nobody ever said anything.
“There’s a lot of guys in the league that have had lineage in the NBA. But there’s way more that didn’t make it,” he said. “There are no guys in the league that are sitting here going, ‘Oh, you’re only in here because of your names.’ You know better than that. You don’t get here on nepotism. That doesn’t work.”
Orlando Magic guard Jett Howard, the son of two-time NBA champion Juwan Howard, agreed.
“I feel like you can’t really tell a front office why they drafted a player,” Howard told NBC News. “Bronny is a great player and has great potential. That’s just my personal opinion, but people are entitled to however they feel. It’s Bronny’s job to prove them wrong.”
76ers forward K.J. Martin, the son of former No. 1 draft pick and NBA All-Star Kenyon Martin, applauded the Lakers for their decision to draft LeBron’s son. After all, Bronny has shown the ability to be a high-level player despite the health condition that set him back early on.
And it’s not like it was a lottery selection.
“People are expecting too much out of him. When has anyone expected the 55th overall pick to come in and do something spectacular?” Martin said. “Maybe he’s a little bit behind, which is perfectly fine.”
Martin did, however, say if it were him, he would not have wanted to be picked by his father’s franchise.
“I’m my own person. Just let me be my own person. That’s the only reason why I wouldn’t,” he said. “I could probably say the same for my dad. He would want me to go and experience the NBA, and kind of figure it out on my own. I’m not saying that LeBron is not letting Bronny do that, but at the same time he’s there and he will be there every day, so it’s a little bit different.”
But being around his father — one of the smartest players to ever pick up a basketball — should help ease Bronny’s transition to the league, Nance Jr. said.
Now on his fifth team in his ninth professional season, Nance Jr. still calls his father after every practice and game. The two discuss the pace of play, shots he took (and shots he should have taken) and how to improve his on-court IQ.
Except, they can only do so much being physically apart from each other.
“I talk to my dad after every practice, but I have to describe practices to him. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I was like, ‘Hey dad, remember that one play in practice?’ And he’s like ‘Yep.’” Nance Jr. said. “You don’t make it in the league without help. So getting him in a situation where he’s going to have arguably the best help and advice that he could possibly get, being his dad right there, I think sets him up for a quicker learning curve.”
Where Bronny fits into the Lakers’ plans remains to be seen. With veteran stars like LeBron and Anthony Davis leading the team under new head coach JJ Redick, Los Angeles once again sees itself as a playoff contender. As such, minutes will not be easy to find for Bronny.
The likely scenario is he starts the season in the NBA and eventually moves to the G League to further his growth. He won’t get better being buried on the depth chart. This is particularly true considering he didn’t even play a full season at USC.
Payton II, now in his eighth NBA season and an integral member of the Warriors, spent parts of five seasons honing his skills to be able to get to where he is today. He said Bronny could see a similar story unfold.
“I feel like the G League is going to help him tremendously, just like it did me. It got me prepared and ready for the real deal,” he said. “He has all the tools over there. Once he gets his chance, when he comes back with the team and gets thrown in, he’ll be fine.
“It’s just a lot of figuring out right now for him to know where his spot is and what it’s going to look like in real speed, in real time. But once he settles in and he gets the flow for things, Bronny is going to have a great basketball career.”
