Bronny James has reached his senior year at Sierra Canyon, and the subsequent recruitment begins.
The older son of LeBron James has already been scouted by plenty of schools. Unsurprisingly, no one has offered him scholarships yet. Programs expected to wait until his senior year to begin offering him and pursuing him religiously.
That time has come as Bronny, now a senior at Sierra Canyon will most likely be the school’s first or second go-to option. Multiple colleges are recruiting him, according to Bleacher Report and ESPN.
Schools interested in Bronny James:
Michigan
Ohio State
UCLA
USC
Oregon
And others pic.twitter.com/EFMO9c1d15— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) August 13, 2022
There is reportedly a “’strong feeling’ James will attend college, with UCLA, USC, Michigan, Ohio State and Oregon being among the schools heavily recruiting LeBron James’ eldest son,’” according to Bleacher Report.
While Bronny has not yet formally decided what his post-high school plans will be, there is a good sense that Bronny will attend college over playing professionally overseas or in the G League like other successful basketball players have.
Bronny has stated that he is interested in playing for Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, and UNC once he’s finished high school.
247Sports currently has Bronny ranked as the 49th-best player in his class, eighth in his position, and 12th in his state. He famously fell in the rankings before; now he’s working on climbing these same rankings as many other classmates are committing and accepting scholarships to some of the top schools in the nation.
Bronny James is being recruited by UCLA, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, and USC, among others, per @PaulBiancardi pic.twitter.com/JBiWVa8HCm
— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) August 13, 2022
Bronny’s father, LeBron James, has previously stated that he plans to play wherever Bronny is drafted for the last year of his career. With recent contract extension talks between “The King” and the Lakers, the future of Bronny and LeBron is up in the air.
For Bronny to meet LeBron in the NBA, he would have to declare for the draft within the first two years of his draft eligibility.
With his low rank in his class, he would not likely see first-team minutes during his first year, nor would he put up crazy numbers. Because of that, he won’t be an attractive prospect for NBA teams and would be a second-round pick at best if he declared after one season in college.
Update: Michigan is one of the top programs pursuing 2023 4🌟 guard Bronny James who is the son of NBA star LeBron James. There is a strong feeling Bronny will choose the college route
Bronny is ranked 49th nationally on Top247 pic.twitter.com/4UpE6Vy4oY
— umich.headline (@umichheadline) August 13, 2022
Now, staying for a second year at whatever college he may attend is risky because his father expects him to come out of college after his first year and make the NBA then. However, it might be wise for Bronny to return for a second year at his college to gain more minutes and better stats and raise his draft stock to become a more attractive draft prospect in 2025.
We don’t know how much juice Lebron has left in the tank or how long he’s willing to stay active in the NBA for his son to come to the NBA. Bronny’s best bet for the quickest route to the NBA with decent draft value would be playing overseas or in the G League, where he can compete better with more minutes.
Now, if Bronny decides to go the college route for his career, the only way he’s coming out of college in 2024 is if he has a consistently above-average season to wow scouts and makes himself look like an NBA-ready prospect. Don’t get it wrong, Bronny will still find his way to the NBA one way or another, but how quickly he wants to get there will dictate what he does moving forward after high school.
