LeBron James isn't playing for the Lakers right now, but he's still making Twitter waves. On Monday, after apparently watching some NBA basketball that he found to be hilariously inept, he tweeted the following:
"Man Bronny definitely better than some of these cats I've been watching on league pass today. Shit lightweight hilarious." He followed that last sentence with four laughing emojis.
Bronny, of course, would be LeBron's 18-year-old son who isn't even considered a five-star high school player by the majority of recruiting services, but apparently he's already "definitely" better than multiple NBA players.
Man Bronny definitely better than some of these cats I've been watching on league pass today. Shit lightweight hilarious 🤣🤣🤣🤣
— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 7, 2023
LeBron is taking a page straight out of the LaVar Ball overly-hyperbolic-parent playbook with the intent of paving a path to the NBA for his son, who may or may not actually be a high-level NBA-level talent.
LaVar turned out to be somewhat right about his sons. Lonzo Ball is a good player, though nothing close to what LaVar promoted. LaMelo Ball is already an All-Star. LaVar's LiAngelo Ball hype has proven to be -- how to delicately put this? -- slightly off.
For LeBron, the Bronny promotional tour began when he stated his intention -- which he still maintains -- to to play on the same NBA team as his son. This, of course, virtually guarantees Bronny an NBA roster spot if not a higher draft slot than his talent warrants if only for the package deal of getting his dad, too.
Then, back in January, LeBron told The Oregonian that Bronny, who is still undecided on which college he will attend or if he'll go to college at all, could play for any school he wanted to with the following reasoning:
"I think Bronny can go to any college he wants to," LeBron said. "All I have to do is pick up the phone. If Bronny says he wants to go there, he's good enough."
It begs the question: If Bronny truly is good enough to play at any school in the country, why would LeBron need to pick up the phone to speak on his son's behalf? His game, if this is true, would speak for itself.
And now LeBron is telling us that Bronny, a four-star high school recruit according to 247 Sports, ESPN and Rivals, is not just better, but hilariously better than multiple NBA players right now. Not going to be better. Better. By an appreciable margin.
This could be seen as an attack on the skill level of whatever NBA players LeBron happened to be watching that night as much as it was a promotion of his son. I'm guessing it was both. LeBron didn't name drop his son by accident to make a point about something else. He is promoting, baby. Make no mistake.
And the thing is, it kind of worked. Shortly after LeBron tweeted this -- and by shortly, I mean less than 24 hours after -- On3's recruit rankings bumped Bronny up from a four-star to a five-star.
By Tuesday afternoon, Bronny's On3 recruiting stock had blown up to the tune of being the No. 2-ranked combo guard and ninth-ranked overall player nationally with a 98 out of 100 rating.
We'll see if any of the other recruiting services follow suit, and to be fair, Bronny is a good player who could have earned that ranking uptick on his own merits. The timing just seems, shall we say, coincidental. Either way, LaVar has to be proud of LeBron's efforts.
