Bronny James quashes nepotism talk with daring Lakers warning to LeBron

Bronny James insisted he is desperate to face his father LeBron in Los Angeles Lakers practice after finding form in Summer League.

James was drafted by the Lakers with the 55th overall selection in the second round out of the University of Southern California. The 19-year-old is under immense pressure to deliver given his last name and the history of his family, and he has enjoyed an upturn in form in NBA Summer League action after initially struggling .

After shooting 7-for-31 from the field this summer and 4-for-19 in two games at Las Vegas, James scored 12 points in Wednesday’s 87-86 victory over the Atlanta Hawks and he followed that up on Thursday night. James scored 13 points in the Lakers’ 93-89 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers , shooting 50 percent from the floor.

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James also had five rebounds, three assists, and two blocked shots against the Cavs. Ahead of his rookie season, James outlined he is relishing the opportunity to face LeBron, who is with USA Basketball in Las Vegas ahead of the Paris Olympics, in Lakers practice sessions amid calls the teenager is only in the league because of his father.

When asked what he is looking forward to most about playing with LeBron, James said: “Going against each other in practice.”

James’ basketball career was thrown into doubt ahead of his first college season when he suffered a cardiac arrest at a team practice last July. However, he was cleared to return to the court and, after missing the first eight games, made 25 appearances for the Trojans, averaging 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists.

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After being selected in the second round of the NBA Draft , James and LeBron could now become the first father-son pair to play in the NBA at the same time, doing so while suiting up for the same team. LeBron believes his son is uniquely positioned to succeed and is unfazed by the pressure.

“Just imagine if you were a kid, you were born into a situation where your dad was super famous, super wealthy and you the kid still had the drive to want to be able to accomplish things for yourself,” the 39-year-old said. “I personally don't know if I would've been able to do that if the roles were reversed.

“When I was coming up, I had no choice. I literally had no choice... I had to make it out for me. My mom, my family, my hometown, my city.

"Bronny has all the choices in the world. If Bronny wants to stop right now or never played basketball or just wanted to be a gamer or wanted to be a chef or wanted to be nothing to whatever, he could have done that... People don't understand how hard that is and the commitment for him to be coming out of heart surgery less than a year ago, for him to be able to be in the NBA, the kid, he's special.

“But he doesn't care. He doesn’t. It doesn't bother him.”