LeBron James Responds To Former NBA Star’s Evaluation Of Bronny’s Game

Gilbert Arenas, a former three-time All-Star guard for the Washington Wizards, has a very good relationship with Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James. So much so, that LeBron trusted Arenas, who last played professional ball in 2013, to evaluate his son Bronny.

LeBron James Jr., or “Bronny,” is still a very young prospect, entering his sophomore season at Sierra Canyon. He was mostly a reserve player as a freshman, on a team that featured two five-star seniors in BJ Boston and Ziaire Williams—two potential one-and-done players now at Kentucky and Stanford, respectively. Arenas believes that Bronny will be that level of player in a few years, once he’s grown a bit. After watching the young guard, he told LeBron that he actually thinks his son is better in a number of areas at this point in their careers. He told the Complex Sports Podcast that LeBron responded that his evaluation was “dead on.”

“From what I can tell right now, he probably has a better shot than you did, dribbles better than you, you guys probably have the same passing ability, you were probably faster, taller, he probably jumps higher,” Arenas recalled. “He said ‘Yo, dead on.'”

“And I said ‘The difference between you and him, at this point, is that you needed basketball to get out of where you were getting out of. He doesn’t need basketball because you did it already. So what he’s going to need is that internal love.'”

Right now, Bronny James is listed at 6-foot-2. If he has a growth spurt and winds up as tall as his father, the sky’s the limit, Arenas says. That is a pretty big “if,” of course, even with some impressive basketball genes.

“He makes the perfect player,” Arenas went on to say of Bronny. “He’s gonna play the game the way he sees it. So if he’s gonna go into the game with 20 assists, he’s gonna for 20 assists. I think he’s gonna be the number one player in the country his senior year.

“Because his senior year he will be 6-foot-8/6-foot-9 with a 44-inch vertical at the point guard position all of 220. Just those measurements alone, you’re the number one player in the country.”

If that comes true, LeBron James’ pretty clear dream of playing with his son may come true yet. “The best thing about it is the year I’ll be a free agent will be the same year my oldest son graduates high school,” he said after signing a new contract with the Lakers. “So I’ll have some options to see, for me personally, what I want to do forward, being around my family, being around my son more or continue to play this game I love with great health and great spirits. We’ll see.”

That will depend on whether players are allowed to once again make the jump from high school to the NBA at that point, a rule change that some believe is likely. LeBron will turn 39 during the 2023-24 season, but based on his play this year, he may very well still be a valuable NBA player at that point.

247Sports currently has Bronny James as a five-star recruit and the No. 19 player in the 2023 recruiting class.

[Complex]

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