NEW YORK — As the NBA draft turns to the second round Thursday, the attention is on Bronny James and if he will be drafted – and if he is selected, by whom.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, Bronny’s dad, posted on social media Wednesday that he was “emotional as hell,” thinking about the journey of his sons, Bronny and Bryce. “Thank you both for allowing me to be your DAD and be apart of your compass through life’s trials and tribulations!” James wrote.
Which teams are potential landing spots for LeBron’s oldest son? The Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns, Toronto Raptors and Minnesota Timberwolves are possibilities.
Bronny was diagnosed with congenital heart defect after sustaining cardiac arrest while working out on Southern California’s campus 11 months ago. Bronny was cleared to play for the Trojans and averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists and shot 36.6% from the field and 26.7% on 3-pointers in 25 games during his freshman season in 2023-24. He was also cleared to play in the NBA by the NBA’s Fitness to Play Panel.
At one point, LeBron said he wanted to play alongside Bronny, but the elder James has distanced himself from that sentiment saying as far back as a year ago that what the son wants isn’t always what the dad wants.
““I never thought about just playing with my dad, but of course he’s, he’s brought it up a couple times. But yeah, I don’t think about it,” Bronny said at the draft combine in May.
WHERE ARE PLAYERS FROM?NBA draft's first two picks show league's global reach
Read on for USA TODAY Sports' analysis for all 28 picks from the second round of the 2024 NBA draft, news, trades and highlights:
The second round will be broadcast on ESPN.
The second round is Thursday at 4 p.m. ET
The draft will be streamed on ESPN+, YouTube TV and fuboTV.
The draft has two rounds. The first was Wednesday, for picks No. 1-30. The second is Thursday, for picks No. 31-58.
The second round begins Thursday afternoon, at 4 p.m. ET. During the second round, each team will have four minutes to make its selection.
The first round was at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The second round is at ESPN Seaport District Studio in Manhattan, N.Y.
The NBA draft usually has 60 picks. This year, there are 58 picks as the Phoenix Suns and Philadelphia 76ers each forfeited a second-round pick for violating rules around free agency talks.
* Suns and 76ers each lost a 2024 draft second-round pick due to league penalty.
Outside of the lottery picks, the most intrigue of the NBA draft will be to see which team takes a flier on Bronny James.
With his medical concerns behind him, the 6-foot-2 James certainly isn’t the first prospect to have an underwhelming collegiate career and was drafted strictly on future potential.
For someone who averaged less than five points a game during his lone season at USC with scouts and executives split on his actual NBA skills, James’ name being attached to certain teams and working out for others could be a smokescreen to keep other teams from really evaluating him. It also may have something to do with his namesake’s future employer. Read more here. — Scooby Axson
Twenty-one years ago, LeBron James strode across the stage at the 2003 NBA draft in an oversized, all-white suit and shook the league commissioner’s hand while flashing a wide, radiant smile.
This week, one of his children might get to do the same.
Among the players hoping to hear their name called is Bronny James, the oldest son of the Los Angeles Lakers superstar, who is attempting to enter the NBA after one season at USC.
For his father, a four-time NBA MVP who is coming off his 21st season in the league, it’s a full-circle moment, with the elder James taking to social media Wednesday to express those feelings.
“Not a feeling in the (expletive) world better than being around raising my boys to MEN!” James wrote in a post on Instagram. “Pops over here getting emotional as hell just thinking about yall journey so far! Thank you both for allowing me to be your DAD and be apart of your compass through life’s trials and tribulations!” — Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORK
ATLANTA — It would be difficult to have a strong opinion about Zaccharie Risacher, the NBA’s newly-minted No. 1 overall draft pick, unless JL Bourg of the LNB Élite league was somehow part of your basketball viewing menu last season. But there’s a reason that the people who actually get paid to pay attention to this stuff — and whose jobs depend on getting it right — have liked Risacher since he was 16 years old.
In the modern NBA, tall wings who can shoot from the perimeter and defend multiple positions are among the rarest commodities. Just ask the New York Knicks, who are about to pay OG Anunoby more than $200 million despite never averaging more than 17.1 points per game and just gave up a ransom of draft picks for Mikal Bridges. Read Dan Wolken's column.
NEW YORK – The day before the first round of Wednesday’s NBA draft and just hours before the draft began, the New York Knicks dominated the league’s headlines.
On Tuesday, the Knicks acquired Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets, and the following day, they reached a five-year, $212 million deal with OG Anunoby, their own free agent, to remain with New York.
The opening of NBA free agency is Sunday, and the Knicks’ front office, led by former player-agent Leon Rose, sent a message: the Knicks are going for it. They see a window to play for an NBA championship, and they’re taking a big-league swing. That should be commended. Read Jeff Zillgitt's column.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The first round of the 2024 NBA draft wrapped up late Wednesday night, and though there's still one more round — comprising 28 selections — left, it's not too early to break down the implications from the night.
The biggest winner, arguably, wasn't a team or player or executive, but a country. France has had an unprecedented run of success in getting players drafted in the first round. No team made more selections than the Washington Wizards, who came into the night with two but aggressively added another in the middle of the round, and now they appear to have infused talent onto a roster that badly needed it. Read our winners and losers from the first round of the 2024 NBA draft here.
NEW YORK — The first round of the 2024 NBA draft produced expected results − a pair of French players in Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr, for example, were selected in the first two picks.
But the first round also yielded picks that were total surprises, ones that drew audible reactions from the crowd in attendance at the Barclays Center after Commissioner Adam Silver read off their names.
Whether it was teams in win-now mode drafting prospects who are projects, or players seemingly taken too high, here are the three biggest surprise picks from the first round of the 2024 NBA draft. Read story. — Lorenzo Reyes
It’s been a big day for France with one of its most successful drafts in NBA history.
With Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr the first two picks in the draft, it’s the first time two Frenchmen went 1-2 in the NBA draft.
On top of that, with Tidjane Salaun taken sixth overall, it’s the first time three Frenchmen were selected in the top 10. It’s also the first time a country other than the U.S. has had three players drafted in the top 10. — Jordan Mendoza
Dalton Knecht is at the 2024 NBA draft with his family and Tennessee coach Rick Barnes as he waits to live out a childhood dream of hearing his name called by NBA commissioner Adam Silver. But for a brief second ESPN's broadcast showed someone other than the Vols forward — the second production error for the network this week after missing the Florida Panthers hoist the Stanley Cup on Monday.
During the introduction of players at the 2024 NBA draft at the Barclays Center on Wednesday, ESPN broadcast a lower-third graphic with Knecht's name. However, the camera was trained on French forward Tidjane Salaun instead of Knecht. Salaun would go No. 6 overall to the Charlotte Hornets. — John Leuzzi, USA TODAY NETWORK
Donovan Clingan has dedicated his basketball career to his mother, and he made sure to have a piece of her with him when he was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers. Inside of his suit jacket he has pictures of his family, and on the other side are pictures of him and his mom.
Clingan’s mother, Stacey Clingan, died of breast cancer in 2018. — Jordan Mendoza
The Spurs and Trail Blazers are tied for most picks in the 2024 NBA draft with four picks each.
The Brooklyn Nets have the fewest picks in this year's draft as the only team with zero selections.
Can anybody enter the draft? Here are the rules of eligibility for the NBA draft.
Age: The NBA's collective bargaining agreement says that all players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft.
One-and-done rule: The collective bargaining agreement says that "at least one (1) NBA Season has elapsed since the player’s graduation from high school (or, if the player did not graduate from high school, since the graduation of the class with which the player would have graduated had he graduated from high school)" in order for a player to be eligible for the NBA draft.
International players: According to the collective bargaining agreement, an international player is defined as one "(i) who has maintained a permanent residence outside of the United States for at least the three (3) years prior to the Draft, while participating in the game of basketball as an amateur or as a professional outside of the United States; (ii) who has never previously enrolled in a college or university in the United States; and (iii) who did not complete high school in the United States."
Draft limits: A player seeking to be a part of the NBA can only enter two drafts. A player also cannot join the NBA unless he has met the eligibility requirements for the draft.
Here are the No. 1 picks this century.
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