Columbus High School point guard Cayden Boozer cannot relate to the magnitude of scrutiny that Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James has received over the last year, but he can relate to growing up as the son of an NBA star.
Cayden is the son of former NBA player Carlos Boozer, who was a two-time NBA All-Star over his 13-year NBA career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Utah Jazz, Chicago Bulls, and Lakers. A prospective guard likely to sign with either Duke, Miami, or Florida, Cayden defended Bronny after all the hate he has received.
“He’s getting a lot of hate for no reason, just because he’s LeBron’s son,” Boozer said, per Brendan Marks, CJ Moore and Kyle Tucker of The Athletic. “LeBron has a lot of haters. He’s still a rookie. He was the 55th pick. I don’t know why they’re expecting, like, that he’s supposed to be the next generational player. He has to become his own player. You have to let that happen.”
“Our kids have to adapt to that early in life, right?” Carlos Boozer, who played with LeBron in his first two NBA seasons, added. “They’d hear in fourth or fifth grade, ‘I know who your dad is.’”
Bronny began receiving national attention and scrutiny when he joined USC, where he struggled as a shooter and averaged just 4.8 points per game. Despite averaging less than five points per game and starting five games, Bronny became a second-round draft pick, which many attributed to him being the son of LeBron.
Following the Lakers’ taking him in this year’s draft, Bronny made an underwhelming debut in the NBA summer league. During his first four games, Bronny averaged just 4.3 points per game while missing all of his three-point attempts, bringing in more detractors to his game. He did rebound during his final two summer league contests, scoring at least 12 points in those two wins.
For his part, Bronny does a good job of blocking out all the hate and criticism. LeBron James has said that Bronny “doesn’t care” about all the criticism, and doesn’t let it bother him. This will serve him well heading into the rest of his rookie season.
