USC Basketball: Bill Simmons Thinks Contender To Draft Bronny James "Makes So Much Sense"
Soon-to-be-ex-USC Trojans freshman combo guard Bronny James has declared for the NBA draft this summer, while also entering the NCAA's transfer portal to at least leave the Galen Center post-Andy Enfield.
The Ringer's Bill Simmons is confident that the 6'4" Sierra Canyon School product will likely be drafted, despite a lackluster collegiate debut season in which he averaged just 4.8 points on 36.6% shooting from the field, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists on a 15-18 Trojans team that missed the NCAA Tournament. That is due, in no small part, to the reality that his dad is Los Angeles Lakers All-Star forward LeBron James, who has a player option this summer and has previously affirmed his interest in suiting up alongside his son. The Philadelphia 76ers are Simmons' pick to draft the younger James, in the hopes of luring the elder one to a championship-contending situation in the East.
"[Ryen] Russillo and I talked about this on last night's pod. We think he's going to get drafted. He's not one of the top 50 prospects but it doesn't matter, because it's somebody's gateway to getting LeBron James on their team. It's going to be a contender. We listed some of them yesterday, but looking at the [FanDuel] odds, Philly was 17-to-1," Simmons said. "Philly makes so much sense for this. They're going to have a pick, first rounder like between 16-18, they probably don't take him that high, they don't need to. Their second round pick, they have that's going to be [in] the late 30s, early 40s. Perfect spot because once you get past like 40, you've got like a 7% chance of ending up with somebody who's going to be a rotation player."
"If you get LeBron, whether you get him on a mid-level exception, or you just use your cap space, cause they have $100 million in cap space, convince him to come. Now it's LeBron, [Joel] Embiid and [Tyrese] Maxey, [he] gets to play with his son which is his dream," Simmons added. "That makes so much sense to me!"
