This year’s NBA Summer League felt like a “Bronny James tour,” according to one of his Lakers teammates.
An anonymous member of the Lakers summer league team explained to The Sun that the heightened attention around LeBron James’ eldest son — the Lakers’ 55th pick in the second round of this year’s NBA draft — created a “tense atmosphere,” and players grew frustrated with his alleged special treatment.
“I mean, he was treated as someone apart, not like all of us, and that is very annoying as we didn’t feel any chemistry in this group of players,” the player said, adding that “almost everything centered around” James.
“I ended up being very frustrated because I was never put in the best situation, or even put in some plays or game plans because they wanted Bronny to show his skills and shine,” he said. “If you talk to any other player that was part of the roster of the California Classic and the Summer League, most of them would tell you the same thing.
“The tensions were visible, and pretty much we were all thinking about the end of the Summer League to get out of here and focus on our next step in our careers.”
However, the player added that he even felt “a bit bad” for James, “as he is not ready for all this, and he isn’t ready for the NBA in my opinion.”
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The 19-year-old James missed the first eight games of his freshman year at USC after he suffered cardiac arrest during a practice last July.
In his lone season at USC, he averaged 4.8 points (on 36.6 percent shooting), 2.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 25 appearances.
Bronny impressed at the NBA combine in May, when he recorded a 40 1/2-inch max vertical jump and shot 19-of-25 during the 3-point shooting drill.
Another source told The Sun the “tension” among the team was “frustrating” to deal with.
Summer League rosters consist of younger players, including recent top draft picks.
“That kind of tension didn’t help the group of players to build chemistry,” the source said, adding they have “nothing against” the younger James.
“And you could feel that there was no unity [between] this group of guys as Bronny was the main guy and the others didn’t feel that it was right, that he deserved that,” the source said.
“This isn’t a good look for us … And with dealing with Bronny’s attention and treatment, plenty of the other young guys that are trying to make the roster for next season couldn’t show their best side and show their A game.”
Fans from all over traveled to the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas to see James make his NBA Summer League debut as a Laker.
James averaged 8.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, and one assist spanning four games.
The 6-foot-2 guard showed vast improvement in his final two games, scoring 12 points in a win against the Hawks — followed by a 13-point performance in a victory over the Cavaliers last week.
James looked more confident handling the ball on both ends of the floor, and he was driving to the basket at a faster pace.
One of the broadcasters even noted “you see a different Bronny James” during L.A.’s eventual 93-89 win against Cleveland.
He and his father could become the first father-son teammates in NBA history.
