Bronny and LeBron James To the Phoenix Suns? Breaking Down NBA Draft Rumors

Bronny and LeBron James To the Phoenix Suns? Breaking Down NBA Draft Rumors

multiple reports on Friday indicate the Phoenix Suns are not only interested in bronny James but could get a workout with the son of a potential NBA goat on today’s episode of lockon suns what is bronny as a player is it a package deal with LeBron and how far-fetched is all of this let’s go you are locked on suns your daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday and we are back this is locked on Phoenix Suns we are part of the locked on podcast Network and I’m your host Brendan clean a credential media member covering the Suns for the past seven seasons and the host of the just basketball show wherever you get your podcast thank you for making locked on suns your first listen to kick off your Memorial Day Weekend a bonus end of week show for you here on locked on suns wherever you’re finding us hit follow or subscribe we are free and available everywhere including YouTube hit that button get a new episode in your feed every single Monday through Friday become an everyday get locked on to the Phoenix Suns all offseason long as the news continues to fly today’s episode brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply all right so both of the biggest NBA Insider sham Adrien wowski at athletic and ESPN respectively reported today on Friday that the Suns have interest in bronny James as they hold the number 22 overall pick in the NBA draft this June and in addition to the Lakers and the pro day where all teams are able to come that bronnie participated in he is expected to actually work out for the Suns now that might sound unique but remember he’s LeBron James son he is a little bit of a fringe Prospect in the first place and his agency is clutch Sports so they’re going to be choosy they’re going to be selective the other news today is Rich Paul went on the record to Bleacher Reports Chris Hayes saying he will not sign bronny to a two-way contract and kind of put his fate in another team’s hands obviously a lot of Ripple effects we could see from this we will get to LeBron James we will get to what this sort of nugget coming out even means for what the suns are thinking about when it comes to the off seon later I want to talk about bronny first because he is a prospect he is an NBA caliber player and somebody that we can’t just treat like a golden ticket to the LeBron James sweep Stakes okay so maybe some of you are in this same boat I was able to see bronny at uh desert Financial Arena against the Arizona State sundevils back in what would that been late January and it was pretty cool um Isaiah Collier is that his name yeah Isaiah Collier who is going to be probably a first- round pick this year was out for the Trojans so bronny started and was basically the primary playmaker primary ball handler for USC in the game because klier was out and I believe another boogi Ellis I think is his name was also out in that game the son uh the Suns the the Sun Devils were trapping pressing making life miserable on Bron and it was actually a pretty interesting uh showcase an interesting game to get to see of his especially in person and just the environment of the crowd being really into it was packed play sold out Arena and of course I mean ASU won and it’s the son of LeBron it’s you’re beating the son of LeBron that’s cool as a fan to get to cheer for so everything was stacked against him I’m not look when I’m I used to to to pay much more attention to the draft um back when the suns were a highp picking team and I was you know going to ASU a lot to go watch players I saw Anthony Edwards I saw Lou Dort when he was on the sundevils I would drive down to Tucson when I watch this stuff I’m not paying attention to Stats I’m not even really paying attention a ton frankly to um matchups or any of that it’s isolating skills trying to imagine how those skills can translate and then evaluating all of that within the context around them so bronny to me you know I I I think if you’re thinking of upside or sort of like what’s the best case scenario um you’re probably talking about somebody like Marcus smartt or I honestly I it’s hard to come up with the comp like the ringer has Davon Mitchell I like that Norris Cole sure small point of attack Defenders whose offensive game is shaky now bronny is only 19 and a half going on 20 so there’s time to to grow there but to get back to the game that I saw 25 minutes seven points three of six from the field one of two from deep but most importantly five assists three turnovers and when you talk about that offensive game and the fact that yes it does need to get better I have optimism that bronnie is a player who can have a role in the NBA his athleticism ism is legit he is 62 I can’t remember exactly what the measurement was at the combine I believe it was about 61 62 but I think you’re hopeful that his athleticism and his his physicality as a player maybe there’s a world where he can guard ones and twos maybe ones twos and threes and of course that’s all dependent on who those actual opponents would be I think he has the IQ and the passing ability which showed in the game that I was able to see him in to have that at least translate offensively for him which is more than you can say for necessarily A Norris Cole or a Davon Mitchell who they get a little bit lost because they don’t may they kind of are they hunt their shot because that’s sort of what you got to do to stay on the court at younger at lower levels if you’re that small maybe they don’t have quite the cerebral game but you can tell bronny is LeBron’s son when you watch him from that context the the the the mindset the reading of the game the The Vision And as a score look he looked better at the combine people talked about that and everything else I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s not just the three-point shot it’s also the finishing and and just the ability to put the ball in the basket all right like he shot um from two-point range as a freshman age 19 at USC 48% 68% from free throw range so that’s the biggest in inhibitor of what he can be as a player two to1 assist a turnover ratio though and was able to pile up a 2.3 steel percentage not bad and you know again showed those flashes what’s funny is Davon Mitchell as a comp is a lot of what the Suns need in theory to fit alongside the big three now will bronnie even be ready by the time this current incarnation of the Suns would even be playing together still at their Peak I don’t know and that’s where some of this does start to get you toward LeBron maybe it’s a future play maybe you do believe in the talent if you’re James Jones or Matt ish or anybody else but there has to be a part of it that of course is done with the mindset of can you get LeBron at the same time and we’ll get there in just a second but to return to the Suns and this draft and this rumor this report 22 is higher than bronnie probably should go in a vacuum if we are just operating based on value and upside and theoretical growth I poked around at some of the you know independent draft analyst people on Twitter and YouTube and independent websites and whatnot as well as the ringer and ESPN and the bigger places I think generously you would put it that bronnie is somewhere between 50 and 75 in this class the Suns don’t have their second round pick because they tampered to get Drew Eubanks which is something that cannot be stated enough as a major swing and miss when you already were so asset stripped but that is done and there’s no going back from that so 22 or some sort of trade into the second round or maybe you trade back from 22 to get a second round pick but hey you’re also losing the leverage now because this is out if you try to maneuver teams are going to have you buy the shirt a little bit in order to make you pay up to do that to do any of that cuz they’re going to say hey well if you’re going to get bronny out of this and potentially LeBron we’re not going to help you out there 22 would be a massive reach it’s no sure thing he is an NBA player even if the tools do seem to be there for him to play bigger than his size and develop an offensive game he’s not a bad athletic Prospect basketball player Prospect but he’s probably not a good enough one to draft at 22 unless the Suns do see it as a package deal and are able to get some smoke signals that that is what would happen I understand how ridiculous that all sounds to just say as a matter of fact that it even could be a package deal so we’ll get into the likelihood of all of this coming together still a month out from the draft coming up next first Today’s Show brought to you by the game time app with killer last minute deals all in prices views from your seat and their lowest price guarantee game time takes the work out of buying NBA tickets if you want to go out of town maybe catch a game in Dallas a game in 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right let’s keep the show rolling let’s talk about LeBron James yes it is a Phoenix Suns podcast and somehow on May 24th it’s not out of the realm of possibility and not unreasonable that I’m saying the name LeBron James on a podcast okay fair maybe it’s not out of the realm of possibility but is it in the realm of possibility I think that’s a good question and so let’s answer it in a nutshell no I don’t think it’s ridiculous I don’t think that it is insane but I don’t think that it’s likely I still think the most logical thing is that LeBron James comes back I think that he is he has a player option he is 40 and he is in a situation that he’s comfortable in so maximize your earnings stay with Anthony Davis and a roster that you know you’re comfortable and familiar with the Lakers do have ways to upgrade they’re hiring a new coach and with of course LeBron has been based in Los Angeles even during part of his Cavs tenure the last time so that’s home now all right now LeBron we don’t know the answer of what he’s going to do okay we can’t Phoenix is pretty close to LA the Suns need a point guard they need some size it’s not the only factor that matters LeBron has made that clear as has Brony this whole summer of 2024 is not going to be centered on and built around LeBron going scorched Earth to play with his son I think in order to sort of let him be his own man let his draft process play out in relative sanity even though that’s mostly impossible given who he is as we’ve already seen it still has to be in LeBron’s mind it still has to matter if it could work out he would sort of be silly not to explore it right so LeBron right now is eligible to sign a 3-year $62 million contra contract if he opts out with the Lakers if it’s a 2-year contract it would be 2 years14 million as a reminder if he signs with the Suns he’s taking a minimum there’s no way around that because I mean I I I I guess in theory he could probably sign some for the exact amount or just less than what Yousef nurkic makes and do a sign and trade no the Suns cannot acquire players via sign and trade so this this is a minimum this is a minimum now as far as the Lakers side of it goes there’s other Alternatives here picking up his player option signing an extension in August for two years 113 million all the Lakers side of it is how how long does he want to be there what kind of flexibility does he want to have and how much money can he get if he’s opting out and exploring a situation like the Suns it is basically I mean it let’s call it what it is it’s sort of ring chasing it’s LeBron ring chasing it it’s LeBron ring chasing and Sun chasing I guess and Suns chasing get me haha all right so finances out of the way priorities established the Suns Phoenix a minimum contract all of that probably not priority number one probably not plan a it can’t be why would it be it would be crazy but he could go to the Sixers could in theory go to the Knicks I feel like those are kind of the four and even with the Knicks you know it’s really far from LA there’s the CAA clutch rivalry CAA runs the Knicks or former CAA reps very high ranking people now run the Knicks whereas Leon uh Rich Paul used to work there left formed clutch LeBron leaves at CA goes to clutch with Rich and are they going to sign themselves up for that now they seem to have had some sort of meeting during this past season or something to men fences I don’t know I would put that probably even below Phoenix because it’s not like LeBron’s going to necessarily sign a a max deal there it would have to be a sign and trade there would be some mechanics is he really going to go to that team with tibs and play a bunch of minutes and I don’t know as a basketball fit I think I like it less than the Suns and the money might make up for that but the agency stuff might actually then drop it down below the Sixers I do think makes a lot of sense sense just from a basketball standpoint be another ball handling option defensively he doesn’t have to do a ton because they’re going to have some depth there as well as obviously embat on the back line and everything else and he can just sort of really be a third a third piece and pick and choose his spots they have the money to just sort of sign them out right and then of course the Lakers those are sort of the four teams that I see right now as I look at the NBA draft order all of those teams of course have picks where they could put a cherry on top of all of this and appease LeBron with selecting bronny you know Philadelphia has the 41st overall pick as well as the 16th overall pick the Knicks have 24 and 25 and 38 the Lakers you know 55 so the Lakers drafting bronny would have to be trading up from 55 I think but he’s already there maybe they don’t have to go above and beyond to appease him the same way another team might have to sort of oh end this too by drafting bronny so here’s the deal I don’t want to treat this like a nothing Burger because I sort of did that with Bradley Beal last year and the sons to their credit pulled a rabbit out of a hat they got him they have seemed to be in on so many of these guys the past couple of Summers whether that’s Kyrie Irving or James Harden or LeBron or obviously KD and then Beal that I I can’t say no because if they’re if they’re determined enough and and get an inclination that it would make LeBron strongly consider a move to a city that is a one-hour flight away and ready to win a championship they would draft Brony LeBron would fit here they’ve done crazier more surprising things than that I think already even though Beal’s not quite the level of player it was less likely just given what we thought you would have to up in a trade and then the way that the no trade clause and everything else worked out that feels like a tighter needle to thread than even this and they did it it comes down to money as it always does if LeBron is in a point in his career with his Nike deal his Investments his everything else going on outside of basketball production company and on and on and on that he is truly from a Legacy standpoint and a PR standpoint as well as a nitty-gritty nuts and bolts Financial standpoint willing to take a minimum contract to basically ring Chase and achieve a dream of playing with his son it very well could happen but he wants to buy an NBA team he’s made no secret of that so these contracts might feel like what’s the difference between 50 and 3 million but that money is going to go directly to buying this Las Vegas team we all assume does matter so I don’t feel like LeBron is at a point where he would truly do this and until I hear differently on the money side of all of it I kind of don’t care about bronny or the draft or the basketball fit we’ve never seen a player who’s still all NBA Allstar caliber playoff win generating caliber like LeBron even at 40 take that massive of a pay cut just for this I got to hear more before I buy that that would happen but let’s talk about what it means for the Suns and what they’re thinking this summer coming up next first Today’s Show brought to you by better help better help is changing the game making therapy more accessible for you because sometimes guys we all carry around different stressors big small otherwise when we keep them bottled up though it can start to affect us negatively therapy is a safe space to get those things off your chest figure out how to work through whatever is weighing you down usually I tell you guys about how I benefited from therapy here but I will tell you about a story that I was able to listen in on on the South Beach session podcast with San Van Gundy who obviously was an NBA coach for a long time and he discussed that he has basically been in therapy multiple times a week as much as he possibly can since August when his wife unexpectedly passed away and just hearing that strength and the the the stability with which he was able to even discuss it and how I would not be able to do that I just thought it was such a testament to the value of having somebody to talk to and processing your emotions even when it’s hard if you’re thinking of starting therapy give better help and try it’s entirely online designed to be flexible convenient and suited to your schedule all you got to do to get started just fill out a brief questionnaire get matched with somebody a licensed therapist and switch therapist at any time for no additional charge get it off your chest with betterhelp thereit betterhelp.com lockon NBA today to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp.com SL locked on NBA alrighty let’s close out the show so we’ve talked about bronny we’ve talked about LeBron we got to hear more on the money side before we’re going to believe too much of this I think however what I will say is it tells us the suns are leaving no uh no stone unturned okay which is good I mean it’s obviously a big obvious Stone right now it’s not exactly um Reinventing the wheel to pursue maybe the best player in the history of the sport like it doesn’t exactly take a rocket scientist to think up that strategy but the reason I sort of compared it back to the beal idea is you know I did an episode this time last year where I said here’s the ideal Phoenix Suns off season and it was trading Chris Paul for I believe a package that would have included like Terry roier and trading Aon for some other stuff and you know this free agent and that guy and everything else instead they get an All-Star all-nba guy in Beal they build a big three and they’re in the second apron and everything just changes obviously with the way that the suns are up against it right now under this second apron and we’re talking about you know how many picks can they trade with this guy to get that player and how can they upgrade this position and can they really bet on minimum signings again and should they take a player at 22 and it’s hard to come up with a really high upside scenario for this off season of course duh if you’ve listened to this podcast you know that if you’ve thought about it yourself for more than 5 minutes you you know that getting LeBron James on a minimum contract would be a home run swing and it would be the I it’s not even I don’t even need to say it it would be the best way to improve this roster with one single move that they could possibly make unless they’re going to get I mean I they’re going to get like Draymond why am I saying Draymond Green I meant to say Steph Curry just retire and void his contract and come over a minimum like no this is it this would be the biggest thing now if they’re trying to sign to draft bronny just purely from a basketball standpoint at 22 and they don’t get LeBron and there’s no there’s no path to them getting LeBron I would be a little bit suspicious great you have a g-league team great you’re going to invest in Player Development but let’s still you know be reasonable here so I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know what they’re thinking but this did not leak by accident both WJ and Shams had it they both took to Twitter and multiple different Outlets like when this type of news comes down so specifically and so widespread it’s not it’s not an accident so just like around this time in 2022 after Lebron after Kevin Durant got swept by the Boston Celtics and there was an article in the New York daily news that I went through through on this podcast that was like Hey KD is not loving how these things are playing out he didn’t appre you know he’s he’s doubtful about Kyrie and doesn’t really love the relationship with the front office and I said hey watch out and last year I was wrong and we all should have been paying better attention to the beal side of things and a lot of you were I think we have to pay attention to this that’s why I did an a bonus basically a bon episode here and that’s why I’m not I’m fighting against my instincts to treat it like it’s ridiculous and I’m just casually talking about LeBron James signing with the Suns on a minimum I know that’s crazy but I’m doing it because they’ve done crazy things over and over and somehow been able to do it and I think this owner the investment from this owner this Market this roster this situation even though just got swept and even though it looks so Bleak from a salary cap and a CBA standpoint I do just believe that it’s more desirable now than it was before and maybe my brain is a little bit still in Robert Sarver game seven against Dallas whatever mode and not enough in ishia Big Three Kevin Durant great weather weather in the winter mattering again mode either way it’s fun it’s fascinating I’m excited to see how it plays out um I doubt the Suns will do media availabilities if they have a workout for bronny we may never even actually get a notification that it happens that’s not mandated guys like I know you’re there’s a lot of people out there who are always in the replies and comments of different local NBA reporters Dwayne Ranken whatever here locally where it’s like hey who are they working out what’s going what do you think some teams announce that stuff some teams don’t there’s no rule that makes them do it so this came out I do think strategically leaked to these insiders but the workout could happen tomorrow and none of us would know it and that’s just the reality so it’s going to be leak season it’s going to be you know smokes screen season and reading between the lines and hearing stuff through the grape vine season right now but this news makes it a lot more interesting to be reading through those lines than I would have when we were talking about Chris Dunn is what I’ll say even if it doesn’t happen it speaks to it speaks to this I think being desirable this organization and Brain Trust continuing to think big and more craziness I say it every time since the offseason started I’ll I keep as I sign off as the craziness continues and all that I’m not joking this is proof all right guys enjoy your Memorial Day weekend I’ll be back with you on Monday bronnie LeBron just let those dreams swirl while you’re having a good time with your family taking a load off hopefully and we’ll be back with more Suns talk Monday hit follow or subscribe so you don’t miss it and I’ll talk to you guys then

The Phoenix Suns will pursue Bronny James in the NBA Draft, leaving the door open for a far-fetched pursuit of LeBron James, per multiple NBA insiders.

Brendon Kleen of @justbasketballfans breaks down how Bronny could translate to the NBA, why money is the biggest obstacle for LeBron coming to Phoenix, and what this rumor tells us about the Suns’ offseason.

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