Bronny James wrapped up his freshman season at USC this past week, and now all eyes turn to whether or not he will choose to enter the 2024 NBA Draft.

Coming into this year, the expectation was that Bronny would only make a one-season pitstop with the Trojans. His dad, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, had repeatedly expressed a desire to play with his son in the pro ranks.

Between his success at the high school level and unflappable ability to stay cool in the midst of relentless media pressure (i.e. the press following him around on dates with his girl), Bronny seemed to have all the ingredients necessary for stardom at the next level.

Unfortunately, a scary cardiac issue suffered by Bronny derailed his first year of college. Although he eventually returned to the court, he could never quite find his rhythm.

Bronny wound up averaging 4.9 points on 37.4 percent shooting from the field. In addition, he also chipped in 2.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists per outing. USC went 15-18 on the year.

This week a group of NBA executives weighed in on whether Bronny should or would turn pro following his freshman campaign.

 

“I don’t know if he’s going to come back [to school],” one Eastern Conference exec told ESPN. “We’d recommend he go back, just because this season didn’t get off on the right foot. He was behind due to the cardiac episode, being away from the team, the rehab, etc.

“So I think going back and continuing to fine-tune these skills [would help], because the offseason is when you really develop stuff. College coaches are trying to win games [during the season]. With the time he lost, he was trying to play catch-up all year. But I don’t know what Klutch is going to advise him to do.”

A Western Conference exec also weighed in, suggesting that although Bronny didn’t stand out on the court this past season, it wasn’t really his fault.

“You miss four months of the offseason and try to rush back, that’s really tough to do,” the Western Conference exec said.

“So I grade him on a heavy curve, personally. I imagine from a basketball perspective, the best thing would have been for him to not play because he missed so much time over the summer to adjust to college basketball, and you get thrown in the middle with this kind of weird team that wasn’t functioning anyways.

“I thought it made for what I think ended up being a clunky situation in every direction. To the kid’s credit, I think he did his best.”

A Western Conference exec suggested that if Bronny did enter the draft this year, and he did end up getting taken by someone, it would likely be the Los Angeles Lakers.

“[The idea of pairing LeBron and Bronny] would be different if LeBron [were younger],” he said.

“He’s still really good at 40, All-Star good — but there’s a lot that comes along with [adding him]. If you do that, you got to sacrifice and think about the other players that are on the roster, too.

“He’s going to help you win basketball games, but there’s a sideshow that comes along with it. But I can see it — he’s already on the Lakers, and they know how to deal with [that spotlight] so I’m hard-pressed to see him going anywhere else.”

All signs at the moment point to Bronny returning to school for one more year. But if there is anyone who could buck the norms and do the unexpected in a situation like this, it is definitely the James family.