Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James has taken the brunt of criticism because of his poor form, but former NBA star Gilbert Arenas is not having it, saying that critics should also point out the struggles of his fellow draftees.
“That is the problem here that they’re focused on the 55th pick in the NBA draft and everybody else the top five picks get to go through the league like nothing. Thank god we got Bronny in our draft,” Arenas said on his podcast.
“Because if there’s no Bronny, the kid from the Wizards will be called the bust today. Because if you take Bronny out, he will be last in preseason. So he’s worse than Bronny. If we talk about, if we think about the numbers…But that’s not a narrative nobody wants to talk about,” he continued.
Gilbert Arenas added that unfair expectations are placed on Bronny James simply because of his last name, so much so that the former Washington Wizards guard called the eldest son of LeBron James “an influencer playing basketball.”
“He has more followers on social media than Patrick Mahomes,” Arenas said of James. “His influence is really, really huge. He’s going to get chanted everywhere, this is not about his performance on basketball.”
To Arena’s point, Bronny James has more followers than Patrick Mahomes, as the Los Angeles Lakers guard has 8.1 million followers on Instagram compared to 6.8 million for the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback.
Bronny James’ preseason stats with the Los Angeles Lakers
Bronny James has already played five preseason games with the Los Angeles Lakers, posting paltry averages of 1.6 points, one rebound, and 0.8 blocks in 11.6 minutes per contest. He has also shot 21.1 percent from the field, as he has only gone 4-for-19 and has missed all seven of his three-point attempts.
The former USC guard is expected to spend significant time in the G League this upcoming season to develop his game, and it’ll take some time before he cracks into the Los Angeles Lakers’ rotation.