LeBron James was a proud papa when the Lakers selected his son Bronny on Thursday afternoon. The superstar couldn’t help but become “very emotional” over the moment his son was selected by an NBA franchise, ESPN reported. The James family had been gathered in New York for an intimate dinner while the second round of the NBA draft was occurring, with the dinner including James’ mother Gloria, his wife Savanah’s parents and several of Bronny’s closest friends. James led everyone in a champagne toast to celebrate the occasion. He also posted to Instagram and captioned the post of photos of him and his son, “LEGACY!!!!!!”
Bronny James was selected by the Lakers with the 55th overall pick by Los Angeles after going undrafted during the first round, which had been held the night before at Barclays Center. The Lakers are of course the team that Bronny’s father currently plays for and has until Saturday at 5 p.m. to opt into the final year of his contract and guarantee he would play at least one season with his son in the NBA. The Lakers are willing to offer the elder James a max three-year, $162 million extension to keep in him Hollywood, ESPN reported.
“In the history of the NBA, there’s never been a father and a son that have shared an NBA basketball court and that feels like something that could be magical,” Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said. “We know, and have to respect of course, that LeBron has a decision on his opt-out … but if it worked out that he was on our team next season, NBA history could be made. And NBA history should be made in a Lakers uniform.”
Bronny’s jump to the NBA comes after he played one season of college ball at USC where he averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 19.4 minutes per game. Bronny made headlines across the world last summer after he suffered a cardiac arrest last summer during a practice at USC. He was sidelined for nearly five months and eventually made his debut for USC on Dec. 10 against Long Beach State.
