Kwame Brown explains why Bronny James being drafted by the LA Lakers is not nepotism by citing LeBron James role (Photo credits: IMAGN)
The LA Lakers taking Bronny James, LeBron James’ son, with the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft has further opened up discussions of nepotism in the league. Former Washington Wizards All-Star Gilbert Arenas and 2001 first-overall pick Kwame Brown had a lively debate regarding nepotism and a clip of it was posted on the “Kwame Brown Bust Life” YouTube channel Thursday.
According to Arenas, Bronny getting drafted by the Lakers is comparable to Zaire Wade getting drafted 10th overall by the Salt Lake City Stars in 2021. Arenas tried to support his logic by saying Bronny played Division I college hoops at USC while Zaire did not have that same experience.
Brown, who has been critical of LeBron before, rebutted Arenas’ statements and said it is different because Dwyane Wade is a partial owner of the Utah Jazz.
“It is not (the same),” Brown said in response to Arenas’ claim. “I’m not saying it’s okay but y’all cheered LeBron on calling this nepotism and the whole time I was saying it’s not true mepotism because LeBron don’t own the Lakers.”
An article written by Adrian Wojnarowski published on April 17, 2021 reported Wade purchased an ownership stake in the Jazz. The article stated Wade planned to take an active role within the organization.
Zaire Wade opted to skip college and went straight to the pros. This decision led to him being drafted 10th by the Salt Lake City Stars, the Jazz’ G-league affiliate, in Oct. 2021.
Kwame Brown once took a jab at LeBron James in an interview
In September, Brown had an interview with the “Swish Cultures” YouTube channel. In the interview. Brown said LeBron James’ game has not developed in his career that’s over two decades long.
Brown described LeBron’s game as more of a slashing specialist who cut to the rim.
“He should have developed a mid-range and a post game, and he still hasn’t yet. He still has the athletic ability to just go 94 feet,” Brown said. “But if he didn’t have this athleticism, his game really hasn’t evolved outside of a three and putting his head down and going to the basket.”
LeBron responded to Brown not long after by posting an IG story which has since expired. In the story, the Lakers superstar said it was just another clip of him running fast and getting to the basket. He punctuated it by adding the phrase “no s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁.”
LeBron James claps back through his Instagram (Photo credits: LeBron’s IG)
It’s not easy to quantify or put into numbers the way LeBron James’ game has changed over the years. However, his improved percentage from the 3-point line shows he adapted.
In his first season in the NBA, he only shot 29.0% from behind the arc. For the first nine years of his career, he only averaged 33.1% from downtown. The first time he shot over 40% was in 2012-13, when he made 40.6% of his attempts from deep.
His percentage with the long ball would dip below the 40% mark again after that year until last season. During the 2023-24 campaign, he shot 41.0% which is a career high.
