Bronny James: LA Lakers draft LeBron James’ son in second round

Bronny James was picked in the second round of the NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers where he could play alongside his legendary father LeBron.

The 19-year-old was the 55th choice of the draft in New York on Thursday after weeks of speculation about which team he would end up on.

Four-time NBA champion LeBron, 39, is likely entering the final year of his career and could become a free agent this summer by declining his $51.4m (£40.6m) player option when the window opens at the end of June.

However, that prospect seems remote given the the four-time NBA champion said after the All-Star game in 2022 that his “last year will be played with my son”.

No father-son pairing have ever played alongside each other in the NBA before.

Bronny has completed his first year of college basketball with the University of Southern California Trojans, where he averaged 4.8 points and 2.1 assists per game.

Unlike his father, who stands at 6ft 9in and is the NBA’s leading all-time scorer, teenager Bronny is 6ft 1in and is more of a defensive player.

Being the son of a four-time Most Valuable Player brings extra attention along with it. Bronny has 7.7 million Instagram followers and pundits have followed his journey for years.

Despite that, his path has not been entirely smooth. Bronny had a cardiac arrest in training last July, meaning he was only cleared to return to basketball last November, having been found to have a congenital heart defect.

Bronny is not expected to play a major role for the Lakers in his rookie season but the possibility of him appearing alongside his father is likely to garner plenty of attention.