Bronny James played 15 minutes in the Los Angeles Lakers' loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night, going 0-for-5 from the field and failing to score yet again. The rookie is now 1-for-16 on the season over 44 minutes of action, making him one of the most unproductive players in the league. To be clear, his occasional presence on the floor this season has little to no impact on the Lakers' overall record, which currently sits at 26-19 — good for fifth in the Western Conference.
Because he's LeBron James's son, though, Bronny was a topic on First Take on Wednesday, providing the opportunity for Stephen A. Smith to make a fatherly request.
"I am pleading with LeBron James as a father, stop this," Smith said. "Stop this. We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad. The first game of the season, opening night, the Griffeys in attendance, father-son duo playing in an NBA game for the first time, an absolutely, positively wonderful story. And then reality sets in. We love what we're seeing from him in the G League because that's where you belong as you hone your skills and you get better and you legitimately earn—which I believe he has the potential to do, I am rooting for Bronny James. It would be cruel to root against him. He's a wonderful kid, I wish him nothing but the best."
"I am pleading with LeBron James, as a father. Stop this." 😳 @stephenasmith reacts to Bronny James' play in the Lakers 118-104 loss to the 76ers. pic.twitter.com/bk5D0DS42N
— First Take (@FirstTake) January 29, 2025
"But he's LeBron James's son," Smith continued. "And everybody knows what attention that brings ... Right now Bronny James is averaging 0.3 points, 0.3 assists and 0.4 rebounds. You know what people are saying. You know what they're going to do to this kid."
Smith, made it clear that he was saying all of this out of compassion for the young player, but still asked the tough question.
"How are you doing him favors?" Smith said. "We know that he's not ready yet."
The stats and evidence have been extremely underwhelming. And Bronny was always going to face an uphill climb in the court of opinion, even if he looked like an actual NBA player. Perhaps there's no one who will press his father on this issue because of his status, and Smith certainly has the caché. He raises an interesting argument.
At the same time, First Take isn't doing the James family any favors by deciding that of everything going on in sports, the Lakers' late-January rotation merits being a topic on one of the shows of record.
It's a delicate situation and turning it into an issue for a father makes it seem more personal. Yet there's no way this situation cannot be personal because of who James is and what levers he can pull to make his shared dreams a reality.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Stephen A. Smith Makes Plea to LeBron James as a Father: Stop This With Bronny.
