Draymond Green made a forceful statement about LeBron James using his NBA influence to get the Lakers to draft his son Bronny James.
During an appearance on “The LaVar Ball Show” podcast this week, Green defended LeBron’s decision to guide Bronny to the Lakers during the 2024 NBA draft.
Ball, of course, has seen all three of his sons play in the NBA in recent years, including current Minnesota Timberwolves point guard LaMelo Ball.
However, Ball never played in the NBA and instead resorted to hyping his sons up any chance he got through media appearances. Two of Ball’s sons — Lonzo Ball (Lakers) and LaMelo — were top-three picks in their respective drafts, although it is likely that would have been the case with or without their father’s public stumping.
LeBron was in better position to wield his power and make sure Bronny landed on the Lakers, as he was still the best player on the Los Angeles roster at the time Bronny entered the draft.
Although Bronny was not selected until late in the second round, his paltry production in college at USC invited intense critiques that he was not deserving of the opportunity and only got it because of his father’s stature in the league.
For Green, though, it just represented business as usual in the NBA ecosystem.
“I thought it was ridiculous when people said that about Bronny,” Green said about the nepotism accusations. “I thought it was ridiculous. As if LeBron James did him a disservice.
“Like when has getting someone to the NBA ever done anyone a disservice that you got to the NBA? So I thought all of that stuff was blasphemous. If you can help your child, sign me up.”
Green later pointed to examples of the children of NBA front office executives getting opportunities over other potential candidates.
“You look in NBA front offices, you look in NBA ownership groups,” Green said. “You got a lot of kids, and I say kids as far as the children of owners, running teams.”
“They didn’t start off in the video room, and by the way, even if you did start off in the video room that’s still a foot in the door,” Green added. “And you got your foot in the door differently than the other guy in the video room.”
“Since the beginning of time, people has helped out their own. You’d be a sad sucker (to not) help out their own.”
While Green and LeBron developed an intense rivalry on the court, largely due to four consecutive matchups as opponents in NBA Finals from 2014-18, they are now close friends. The two also share an agent, Klutch Sports’ Rich Paul, who has had a personal relationship with James since 2002 before he was selected No. 1 overall in the 2003 NBA draft.
Green, 36, is now the father of five children.
“I worked my ass off to be in this position, so that you don’t have to work as hard to do this same thing,” Green said about his children. “Now, granted, you always have to work harder. You got to take things to the next level. You got to carry your weight. But yeah, I’m moving my kid to the front of the line.”
In late July, Green agreed to a one-year, $27.7 million deal to return to the Warriors for a 15th season. Green opted out of his contract, which would have paid him the same amount, earlier in the summer so that the Warriors could pursue LeBron in free agency.
However, LeBron, who will turn 42 in December, chose to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year contract that will pay him just $4 million per season.
With his father no longer a teammate, Bronny is expected to compete for rotation minutes in Lakers training camp entering his third year with the franchise. The 21-year-old averaged 8.9 minutes, 2.9 points, 1.2 assists, and 0.5 rebounds in 42 games last season.
