Another NBA team owner admits they ‘really liked’ Bronny James

When Bronny James fell to the 55th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, many assumed it was because other teams didn’t see him as a legitimate prospect. Others pointed to his agent, Rich Paul, who indicated that he told other teams not to draft LeBron James’s eldest son because he wanted to make sure he ended up on the Los Angeles Lakers.

Well, Bronny’s camp got their wish, but were there actually other teams interested in drafting Bronny instead? Remember, he only ever worked out with the Lakers and the Phoenix Suns during the pre-draft process. But again, this may have been due to his agency pushing other teams away, as Bronny only ever agreed to those two workouts and actually rejected a few others .

Now we have our official answer, thanks to Suns owner Mat Ishbia.

“I don’t know exactly where Bronny wanted to go. We really liked Bronny. We thought he was a good player. I know the Lakers drafted him. I hope he has a great career. He’s got a great basketball IQ, he does a lot a great things, and he’s got a lot of pressure— to be the son of one of the greatest all time, he’s got a lot of pressure. And so, we thought it might be a good fit here in Phoenix.” – Suns owner Mat Ishbia

With the Suns in a similar boat as the Lakers as far as allocating a large portion of their salary cap to their star players, the idea of adding inexpensive talent such as Bronny should have been appealing for Phoenix. We’ll never know what type of role the 19-year-old could have had in Phoenix, but at least Los Angeles will take good care of LeBron’s son too.

Bronny is expected to spend the majority of his season in the G-League with the South Bay Lakers, where he can receive far more playing time than he ever would with the NBA club as a rookie. But some have wondered if the Lakers will manufacture a special moment early in the season that allows LeBron and Bronny to share some father-son court time together to make NBA history . Doing so early on, when the team can guarantee both players will be healthy makes sense instead of trying to force the moment later when a playoff spot or seeding may be on the line.

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