Gilbert Arenas recently shared an interesting perspective on Bronny James and his desire to play in the NBA. Most fans should be aware that Bronny is the son of Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James. Over the years, the 4x NBA champion has made it clear that he wishes to play alongside his son before retiring from the league.
Although Bronny James has struggled to prove himself during his freshman year of college, he has declared for the upcoming NBA Draft and even participated in the draft combine. This came as quite a surprise to fans given that Bronny recently recovered from a cardiac arrest and had to undergo surgery.
During the latest episode of his podcast, Gilbert Arenas revealed that it was in Bronny’s best interest to declare for the draft as opposed to going back to college for another year. Since this might certainly confuse NBA fans, a closer look is required.The majority of fans opined that Bronny James should have gone back to college
One can only imagine how a serious health scare and complicated surgery can impact the career of a professional athlete. After Bronny sustained a cardiac arrest and missed several months of basketball, he struggled to have an impact on the USC Trojans and averaged just around 5 points per game.
These numbers are nowhere close to good enough for young athletes who wish to make it to the NBA. Therefore, many fans believed that it would be in Bronny’s best interest to wait another year and complete a full season of college basketball before declaring for the NBA.In theory, this is a good stance to take and one that Bronny James should certainly have considered seriously. However, Gilbert Arenas broke down why it made more sense for Bronny to declare for the NBA immediately and not complete another year in college.
Gilbert Arenas believes that Bronny James’ medical history deflected criticism
While fans may merely stop discussing the issue by claiming that Bronny James needs to attend college for another year, Arenas took the analysis of the situation to the next level by trying to understand why Bronny wants to declare for the NBA when he is clearly not ready.
“You didn’t really do nothing in college right? It got interrupted and we can get you drafted right now. If you go back to college and you don’t do too well you might not get drafted. The optics of you got a full year, you trained all year, you’re coming into a new system. We get to pick at your game a lot more. Right now it was hard to pick at his game because of the heart thing right?…”
Arenas continued “He was coming off the bench so we don’t know him. We don’t really know him because we get to use the excuse he was hurt…So it’s easier for them to say we don’t really know much about him….He could sneak into top 15 top 25 pick that’s all you want. You want the foot in the door…”Since Bronny underperformed for several months after returning to action, it is quite possible that he used his name and reputation to get his foot in the door as opposed to returning to college and letting himself get exposed. Fans are left wondering how Bronny will perform now that he is expected to be drafted into the NBA.