How much influence did LeBron have in the Bronny draft pick? | The Herd

All right, let's get to the NBA draft, which was split into two nights for the first time, I believe, ever. And I think this was partially done because Lebron's son, Bronnie James was going to go in the second round. Everybody knew he was going to go 55. There were some fun scenarios or someone else tries to steal him, but that wasn't really going to happen. We'll get to the Rich Paul scaring teams later in the show, but I want to kind of focus on Bronnie going 55, the Lakers, LeBron, all that fun stuff, 'cause this is a great story. Father, son duo teaming up in the NBA. How can you not love it? Yet here we are. The usual suspects, the haters, the naysayers. Oh, this is nepotism. How can this happen? Yeah, these same jabronis, these meatballs, Where were they when Giannis was getting his brother on the Bucks? Where were they when my Knicks Jr. Smith was on the Knicks? Jr. Smith's like, hey, can we get my brother on the team? He joined the team. This nepotism happens in sports. It happens in business, it happens in entertainment, music, movies. It happens in coaching in college basketball. Hey, by the way, guys, is Andy Reid's son. Was he qualified to be a position coach in the NFL? You can go look up his resume. How is he a position coach? This happens everywhere. I don't know why people are so worked up about LeBron and Bronny. It seems a little bit excessive. And when you listen to Rob Pelinka talk about the Bronny decision, it was a no brainer. I should turn back the clock just a little bit for my favorite nepotism story of all time. You guys know I'm a hardcore college hoops fan. I talked about it yesterday. So there was this guy named Danny Manning back in the day who was the best recruit in the country. I mean, he was phenomenal. And he was down to Kansas and North Carolina. So the Kansas coach at the time was Larry Brown. OK, Danny Manning, awesome recruit. His father had been a truck driver for four years. This was written about in the New York Times. You can look it up. His dad was a truck driver. So what did Larry Brown do? He went and hired Danny Manning's dad as an assistant coach. Hey, come on. The staff in Kansas. And what would you know? A couple days later, Danny Manning picked Kansas. Kind of worked out for The Jayhawks, huh? Danny Manning. Danny and the miracles LED Kansas to an awesome title. And I vividly remember that championship because I'm a college basketball nerd. This kind of thing happens, nepotism is going to happen, just it's not the end of the world. There's no reason that LeBron shouldn't get what he wants. Which brings me to LeBron and what I think is an incredible theory. It was kind of poo pooed in the staff meeting. I don't know how it'll go over now. So let's take it all into consideration here, OK? So LeBron can opt out, he can change teams, he can go anywhere. There was the small veiled threat that I don't think anybody took seriously, but it was out there. Hey, if Bronnie's drafted by Utah, maybe I'll go to Utah or Phoenix. And remember, Golden State went after LeBron back at the trade deadline and I think February. OK, so take all of it into account and hear me out. A magician never shows his trick. So I don't expect LeBron to ever confirm any of this. But what's to say LeBron didn't go to the Lakers and say, hey, guys, I got this amazing podcasting partner? You may know him. His name is JJ Redick. He'd make a phenomenal coach. Wait till he gets to the whiteboard. He's going to wow you. Fine LeBron, we'll take a look at Reddick and oh, by the way, guys, could you do me a solid and draft my son at 55? That would be awesome. Fine, LeBron, we'll capitulate. We'll do what you want. And then internally, Lakers are probably like, damn, the Miami Heat did like everything LeBron wanted. Then he left him high and dry. Is he going to screw us? But this is this is 39 year old LeBron who's 40 in December. Is there a world whereas LeBron breaks down the Hey, can we get Reddick as a coach? Yeah, sure, LeBron. Hey, can we draft my son? Yeah, LeBron says. Well, I'm going to do you guys a solid. You hooked me up. I'm near the end. Instead of taking a Max deal, can you just, I don't know, workshop it out for me? Hey, what? What would we look like if I took less than the Max? Say, instead of 5560 million, what if I took 40? What if I took 45 mil? Is there a world where you can present to me free agent options that we could land? Because listen, I don't trust any front offices. They screwed me in Cleveland. Everywhere I go in the league front office has messed things up. So is there a world where you guys could say, hey, look, we can get DeMar DeRozan on the cheap. He wants to be in LA. He'll play for us. We could get Tobias Harris on the cheap as a seventh guy. There's a world where LeBron goes to the Lakers. Can you guys give me what I want? Reddick and my son. And in return, you know what, wink, wink. I'll take less than the Max and we can add a couple more guys in free agency. I don't know. Klay Thompson so far spent most of his summer out here in Los Angeles, out in the beach cities. Can we get Can we steal Clay from Steph Curry?