Bronny James
Photo: Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG

In recent years, Bronny James has been in the spotlight quite a bit. This is mainly as his father is arguably the best basketball player to ever play but Bronny actually seems to be really good for his age. In fact, for players his age, he’s ranked 24th in the USA by ESPN and 30th by 247Sports. So Bronny is no joke. Let’s dive a bit deeper though and talk about his game.

Currently, Bronny doesn’t actually start for the Blazers but there’s a good reason for this. He is one of the youngest players on the team, being only one of two 9th Graders, and the rest of the roster being made up of three 10th Graders, three 11th Graders, and six 12th Graders. By next year though, Bronny will be a sure-fire starter.

Bronny James, Sierra Canyon Trailblazers

Offense and defense

On defense, Bronny is regularly one of the best players out there and is always giving 100%. He often guards his man at half court, which I love to see and it shows how quick he is in the open court. His lateral quickness is impressive as well and he rarely gets beaten to the basket. With how strong he is as well, opponents have a hard time trying to post him up as he can stand his ground very well. As he inevitably grows taller, he just needs to try and stay as agile as he is to keep his place as an elite defender.

On offense, Bronny is great as well. He has a variety of moves he can use when going to the basket such as his floater, which he’s very good at, but he often finishes with his left hand which is great to see. It does still look quite unnatural but it’s great to see him working on it as most young players shy away from finishing with their off-hand. He has a solid 3 point shot as well but his mechanics could do with some work. He starts his shooting motion from below his waist which results in a slower release, but over time this will be coached out of him.

As a whole, I really like Bronny’s chances of getting to the NBA and I’d comfortably say I’m 95% sure he’ll make it. What I’m not too sure about though is whether he’s good enough to go straight from high school to the NBA. Only 41 players in NBA history have done this, his Father of course being one of them. The main incentive for Bronny to do this is so he has a chance to play with his Dad. And with Lebron becoming an unrestricted free agent the year Bronny graduates from High School, it’s already set up to work. In 3 years time though, we’ll have to see if Bronny is up for the challenge.