Former NBA All-Star thinks Bronny James would flourish playing alongside LeBron

Former NBA star Baron Davis believes that LeBron James’ son Bronny would benefit from playing alongside his father.

“Your daddy is LeBron James,” Davis told TMZ Sports. “I think it will do nothing but help him.”

Davis continued.

“You say it’ll enable him because your daddy on the team, but like, nah, that s— different,” Davis said. “That’s LeBron. LeBron’s a coach, a basketball genius and that’s his seed.”

Whether or not the elder James should team up with the younger James in the NBA has been a hot topic lately. Austin Rivers recently said that he doesn’t want to see the two join forces, and Stephen Jackson subsequently called out the 31-year-old for his thoughts.

“And your daddy not LeBron, shut up,” Jackson said. “Difference is you trash, Bronny not. You can’t compare to him scrub.”

The younger James didn’t play at the top of his game in the University of Southern California basketball team’s recent matchup against Stanford University on Feb. 10, at least from a scoring standpoint.

In 24 minutes of playing time for the Trojans, he scored just six points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field and 1-of-3 shooting from deep. The younger James also chipped in three rebounds, three assists and one steal in the Trojans’ 31-point road loss.

The 19-year-old didn’t fare any better as a scorer in his team’s overtime loss to the University of California, Berkeley on Feb. 7. He logged 28 minutes of action against the Golden Bears but totaled just five points on 1-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.

The younger James has appeared in 16 games with the Trojans so far in the 2023-24 regular season, his freshman season with the team, and is averaging 5.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 35.6 percent from the field and 27.1 percent from deep.

The teenager hasn’t experienced much team success in his first season of college basketball. The Trojans own a 9-15 record on the season following their loss to the Cardinal and are losers of eight of their last nine games.

As for the elder James, he remains one of the NBA’s top players despite the fact that he turned 39 years old in December. He has missed just six games for the Los Angeles Lakers so far in the 2023-24 regular season and is averaging 24.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game on 51.9 percent shooting from the field and 39.3 percent from 3-point range.

“[Bronny] already got the DNA,” added Davis. “Now you got the whole layout, the whole trajectory, and the blueprint laid out for you.”

The elder James recently earned the 20th All-Star nod of his pro career, which is the most of any player in NBA history. For comparison, former Lakers star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has the second-most All-Star appearances in league history, as he racked up 19 during his playing days.