Speculation is rife.
Bronny James ended up joining the Los Angeles Lakers, but his father’s team wasn’t the only one to show interest.
“There were four other teams outside of the Lakers that had legitimate interest in acquiring Bronny,” Chris Brassard said on “First Things First.”
“The Clippers, the Timberwolves. It wasn’t too bad for him. I know the Suns drafted a young point guard before him, but they wanted it for LeBron and the Raptors.”
The Raptors, Timberwolves and Clippers all had the opportunity to draft Bronny because they were ranked higher than the Lakers at 31st, 37th and 46th, respectively.
However, Bronny was dropped by LeBron and the Lakers with the 55th pick, and the Suns won the pick.
The controversy began before the draft when ESPN commentator Bob Myers revealed that James’ camp had warned other teams to avoid drafting the former USC player.
“Rich Paul is calling the team [and saying]”He’s telling the team, ‘Don’t take Bronny James,'” Myers said. “He’s telling the team, ‘Don’t take him, because if you do, he’s going to Australia.’ So he has a plan and he has a place.”
Broussard later demonstrated a sixth sense about the situation.
“I don’t dispute this. This is an agent’s job,” he said.
Broussard drew comparisons to Ron Holland II, who was selected fifth overall by the Pistons despite having no contact with them throughout the pre-draft process other than meeting at the NBA Combine.
He also reminded viewers about Alex Sarr, who came in second to Washington.
“A lot of people thought he was going to be the No. 1 pick,” Broussard said. “For a long time, he was No. 1 in mock drafts, but he refused to work out with Atlanta.”
Despite other teams’ interest in Bronny, Broussard is adamant that Paul did his job well.
“To act like Rich Paul is doing something crazy or stupid is not true,” Broussard said. “That’s what a lot of agents do. He was trying to get his client in the best possible situation.”
Paul knew what he had to do and he did it well.
“He stepped up,” Broussard said.
