Bronny James and the Heat

What if a lottery-bound NBA team puts their rebuilding mode on hyperdrive and use their first draft round pick on Bronny James.

I get it. Bronny is in no way shape or form a lottery pick—much less a first-round pick—in the upcoming NBA Draft, but since daddy LeBron already made his intentions known that he wants to play with his first-born before retiring, it might be worth a gamble to waste a first-round selection on the USC second-stringer.

And speaking of LeBron, he can opt-out of his Lakers contract in June 29 and the NBA Draft conveniently is set on June 26, so the stars are perfectly aligned for the James Sr. and Jr. to become the first father-and-son pair to play in the Association. The only question is will they be wearing Purple and Gold or some other NBA team’s colors.

While no spring chicken, The King still put up MVP-level numbers in his 21st season in the NBA—27.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 8.8 assists in 71 contests this past season.

Bronny is the exact opposite of an apple not falling far from the tree, but to be fair he’s coming off a serious heart ailment that delayed his collegiate debut for the Trojans. In what could be his lone college year (he does have an option to go back to college and might go the transfer portal route), the 19-year-old averaged a paltry 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 25 games in just 19.1 minutes of action a contest.

Of the 14 teams that are in the lottery, the lowly Detroit Pistons and the equally inept Washington Wizards have the best chances of getting the numero uno pick at 14%, followed by recent dumpster fires Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers at 13.3% and 13.2%, respectively.

Teams like the San Antonio Spurs (10.5%), Toronto Raptors (9%), Memphis Grizzlies (7.5%), Utah Jazz (6%), Houston Rockets via the Brooklyn Nets (4.5%), Atlanta Hawks (3%), Chicago Bulls (2%), Houston Rockets (1.5), Sacramento Kings (0.8%), and Golden State Warriors (0.7%) can still pull rabbit out a hat and get the overall No. 1 pick, but it’s still anybody’s guess if any of these “top-tier” teams are willing to roll the dice and bet on Bronny just to lure the ultimate prize, which is The King.

I pity the general manager perplexed with the decision of picking the Bronny-LeBron package, but the NBA’s career leading scorer brought it to himself when he set those conditions way back.

The best scenario for The King’s heir apparent, me thinks, is dropping to the second round so expectations won’t be too high on him (he’s still not an NBA player right now but let’s see in a few years).

Lakers owner Jennie Buss and GM Rob Pelinka should also promote LeBron to playing-coach (he’s been known to push the franchise’s buttons anyways, just ask Darvin Ham, Frank Vogel, and Luke Walton plus the cadaver of Cavs head coaches left on LeBron’s wake) so that LA and LBJ can do a Robert Jaworski and draft his son.

While Dudot like Bronny was not in the same stratosphere as the Big J, the Little J and Big J combination gave diehard Ginebra fans a lot to cheer about—aside from the barrels and barrels of ink for Jaworski and Gin Kings detractors to write about.

And for the Heat part of the column. While the playoff ouster via a gentleman’s sweep at the hands of the hated Boston Celtics was expected, I was still praying for a miracle that coach Erik Spoelstra and company can still pull off the mother of upsets minus an injured Jimmy “Now Play-in” Butler and Terry Rozier and walking wounded Duncan Robinson and Jaime Jaquez Jr. plus an ineffective Tyler Herro (save for Game 2).

What if the Lakers don’t make LeBron playing coach and don’t draft Bronny, The Godfather Pat Riley can swoop in and give LeBron an offer he simply can’t refuse with the Heat drafting his offspring either as the 15th or 42nd overall pick. That makes quite a reunion at South Beach as a LeBron, Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Herro-led quintet can finally put Miami over the hump and win the Arisons and the Heat its fourth Larry O’Brien trophy.