I never caught the 2024 NBA Draft as it happened.
I was on leave from work, and I wanted to rest.
And it's not like I didn't work. I mean... on the contrary, it made things even more stressful. Just to fulfill my contractual obligations that day, I had to constantly look for places with good mobile data access, and look for places with electrical sockets.
It was around lunchtime and I just checked out a YouTube vlog about Joel Embiid's betrayal in France, and seeing what we're seeing now, France is going to be god-tier playing in front of their adoring fans.
Anyway, I opened the NBA Draft's wiki page and saw that Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr went one and two, respectively. This is the first time two Frenchmen went one and two in the NBA Draft, and it's also the second consecutive year that a Frenchman was selected first after Victor Wembanyama in 2023. Things got in the way and five hours later, I went back to the same Wiki page.
And the draft is still incomplete.
Then I heard from my friends that the second draft round would be held on the succeeding day. I was like, "What the hell?" This is not like Wrestlemania wherein the card is divided into two parts because one part may or may not matter with the other half. The best players are picked in the first round and while I know that through the years, this round has produced All-NBA players and in Nikola Jokic's case, an MVP, I doubt if fans would tune in to see the rest of the pack.
But yeah, Bronny James failed to make the draft's first round.
His dad might have been a generational talent, but Bronny is just a talented basketball player like most players who make the NBA. The USC Trojan was born AFTER his dad made it big in the NBA. Bronny James' potential is more on the side of Marcus and Jeffrey Jordan than with Kobe Bryant. The Black Mamba might have had an NBA dad, but Joe "Jellybean" Bryant went from one international to another. Kobe had to learn life without the mansions and the butlers.
LBJ and Jordan had the Rocky genes in them. It's the same case with Manny Pacquiao. They strived so that they could support their family. Meanwhile, their sons saw this as an opportunity to exploit their genes. Without desperation, they couldn't raise their game to the next level. This is why most second-generation players fail to reach the career heights of their parents.
With that said, Bronny is an attraction. If he's not going to get picked in the first round, he's probably going to land with the LA Lakers in the second round...
... and he did.
Right off the bat, I know two instances in the PBA that this happened. The most obvious case was when Robert Jaworski drafted Dodot Jaworski tenth overall in the 1995 PBA Draft. While yeah, this was done because The Big J said so, it's not like Dodot was that big of a dud, as there have been unsigned second-rounders through the years and he has a decent mid-range game. And while Dodot was picked ahead of Elmer Lago, Mike Orquillas, Boyet Francisco, and a pre-Stag version of Ginebra legend Bal David, most of these players would eventually suit up for the Kings at one point in their careers.
Also, if you compare him to Rene Pacquiao, he's a Mythical Teamer.
Now he has gone under the radar but Rene Pacquiao was selected two rounds after the selection of Manny Pacquiao in the 2014 PBA Draft. The former Southwestern Cobra would make his PBA debut in 2017, scoring six points and one rebound in eight minutes. That was Pac-Man's second cousin's last game in the PBA as well, as he would take his talents to various MPBL teams.
I am not saying that Bronny doesn't deserve to get an NBA roster spot, but you have to be blind if he's not going to be treated like a nepo baby here. I was once a nepo hire when I was starting my broadcasting career. I knew that, so instead of writing news, I took my talents to the merchandising department. There is nothing wrong with being a nepo baby, but sooner or later, Bronny needs to create his path. Having a Night 2 of the draft is in some ways embarrassing, as the media isn't helping to tone down the expectations.
But yeah, he needs to find a way to get out of the shadow and become more than the not-so-better version of his dad.