LeBron on Lakers drafting Bronny: ‘Dream come true’

LAS VEGAS — On Day 1 of LeBron James’ quest for a third Olympic gold medal, he talked mostly about the Los Angeles Lakers.

That’s understandable, given Saturday — the first day of training camp for Team USA — was also James’ first in front of reporters since his NBA team: Drafted his son. Hired a coach. Struck out (so far) on splashy free-agent signings or trades.

“With my son, it’s a dream come true for me,” James said, stating the obvious about the Lakers selecting his son, Bronny James, with the No. 55 pick in the draft last month.

“When they announced his name, it was something that was super surreal,” LeBron continued. “Our family still (doesn’t) have enough words to explain the feeling.”

Bronny made his Summer League debut with the Lakers on Saturday in San Francisco while his dad was on the court preparing for the Olympics. Bronny scored four points and added two assists, two rebounds and a steal on 2-of-9 shooting in 22 minutes of action.

Although LeBron, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, missed his son’s pro debut — the summer Lakers tipped against the summer Kings — he commented on the matchup, saying, “It doesn’t matter if he plays well…and it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t play well.”

LeBron cited the health setback Bronny experienced last summer, a heart condition that caused him to collapse on the court during a workout at USC and to miss the first half of his only college season, as a reason he is currently “behind” his peers.

“Practices, film sessions, his individual workouts…You can’t take anything stat-wise from the California Classic and Summer League and bring it to (the NBA) once the season starts,” LeBron said. “The only thing that matters is him getting better every day because he missed a big part of the season because of the incident, so he is behind where he would have been.”

Before drafting Bronny, Los Angeles selected Dalton Knecht of Tennessee with the No. 17 pick in the draft. LeBron said besides Bronny, Knecht “was my favorite player in college basketball” last season.

“I just liked his ability to shoot the ball, his demeanor, that he played with,” LeBron said. “I’ve always felt his game will translate to the NBA. I did not think he would fall to 17 at all, so I didn’t think we’d even have the opportunity to get him.”

The Lakers also hired LeBron’s former podcast partner, J.J. Redick, as coach. LeBron said, “We’re excited about J.J.,” but in a break from many of LeBron’s previous 21 seasons, the expectations he is placing on Los Angeles aren’t all that lofty.

LeBron’s teams have won four titles, the last with the Lakers in 2020. He offered to take less money on his new contract this summer if it meant the Lakers could sign big-name players like Klay Thompson, James Harden or Jonas Valančiūnas, but Los Angeles didn’t land any of them early in free agency.

So, LeBron took a two-year, $100 million deal to remain a Laker and play on the same team with his son as the first father-son duo in NBA history. And he stopped way short of his usual mantra about competing for championships. It doesn’t mean LeBron has given up his goal of catching Michael Jordan’s six NBA titles, or even that he realizes at his age (LeBron will turn 40 in December) and with the Lakers’ roster compared to the top teams in the West, such a goal at this stage of his career is unrealistic.

LeBron simply chose not to come out of the gate dumping a demand for instant success at Redick’s feet.

The Lakers have had to play through the Play-In to reach the playoffs in each of the last two years, and were bounced from the first round by Denver last season. LeBron, in Year 21, averaged 25.7 points, 8.3 assists, and 7.3 rebounds while shooting a career-high 41 percent from 3 in 71 games — easily his highest number of games played since logging all 82 in his final season in Cleveland in 2017-18.

“My expectations are for us to go to work every day, try to get better every day and push each other every day,” LeBron said. “As a captain, we have to hold everybody accountable from a player’s standpoint. We are coming into a new system, so we have to see what Coach Redick and the coaching staff want us to do and go from there.”

Anthony Davis, LeBron’s teammate on the Lakers and with USA Basketball, said Saturday that for Los Angeles “obviously the goal is still to win.”

“The goal at the end of the day is still to win championships,” Davis said. “You can’t skip steps. The first step is we’re going to hold guys accountable. We’re going to show up to work and if something goes wrong, we’re gonna hold guys accountable, and then from there, we’ll figure it out.”

Required reading

(Photo: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)