NBA

2024 NBA Draft Recap: Bronny Joins LeBron James in LA and Early Rookie of the Year Odds

Photo of Scott Kacsmar Scott Kacsmar28/06/2024 - 06:03 am
(Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images)

The 2024 NBA draft wrapped up Thursday evening, making it the first two-night event under the current format of two rounds that started in 1989. This draft should have a unique place in history as there was arguably more hype for a late second-round pick, LeBron James’ son Bronny, then there was for the No. 1 overall pick, Zaccharie Risacher, for the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night.

With 58 players selected over the two rounds, let’s recap the 2024 NBA draft by highlighting some of the players you need to know about, and the early favorites for Rookie of the Year in the 2024-25 NBA season.

Lakers Make LeBron Happy by Drafting Bronny James No. 55 Overall

Again, the NBA draft is a bit different in that the second round is largely viewed as a crapshoot rather than a place to snag a long-term starter. Some of the best second-round picks in recent time include Nikola Jokic (2014), Khris Middleton (2012), and Draymond Green (2012). Even those players all were selected by pick No. 41 or sooner.

We rarely would focus on someone taken so late in the draft with the 55th pick, but it’s not every year you see a prospect like USC shooting guard Bronny James, son of the one and only LeBron James.

This means not only will there be a father and son duo in the NBA at the same time for the first time in history, but they should be teammates as James is expected to stay with the Lakers, who hired JJ Redick as their new head coach earlier this week. LeBron will turn 40 in December and Bronny will turn 20 in October. It’s a historic pairing.

Now, this is a draft pick that comes with a strong sense of bias in showing favoritism for LeBron, who has stated years ago that his goal was to play in the NBA with his son, and nepotism for bumping Bronny up the draft board over arguably more qualified candidates. Bronny played 25 games at USC where he averaged 19.3 minutes, 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and he shot 36.6% from the field and 26.7% from 3.

Far from the stuff of legends, and he is only 6’4” and not as physically imposing as his father, who was a generational prospect and talent out of Ohio over 20 years ago.

But it basically goes without saying that Bronny would not have been drafted into the NBA had he come from an average family. The Lakers were likely the only team that would have taken him as sportsbooks had his over/under for draft position leaning to over 54.5. Sure enough, the Lakers called his name with the 55th pick in a 58-player draft.

But you don’t have to hate this pick. Again, NBA teams rarely find valuable starters this late in the draft anyway, and it is doing a service to the game’s greatest player this century as he eyes his final seasons. Bronny also had a scary health situation with his heart in the summer of 2023, so he’s not long removed from overcoming that. If he does not play well at the NBA level, he won’t be there for long. The business is cutthroat and the rosters are limited to the best players in the world.

But for at least this season, we should see LeBron check off another of his goals by playing with his son in a live game. You just know if they connect on an alley-oop with LeBron throwing it down it’ll be a highlight for the rest of his career.

Just enjoy what LeBron has brought to the NBA, and who knows, maybe he’ll get on his son’s ass to become a decent backup guard in the league.

The French Revolution Takes Over NBA Draft

We might have to start paying more attention to basketball in France to find the next NBA stars. The 2024 NBA draft made history when France had three players selected in the top six picks, including the first time ever that a foreign nation had the top two picks in an NBA draft. France also later added a fourth player in the first round:

  • No. 1 SF Zaccharie Risacher (Atlanta Hawks)
  • No. 2 C Alex Sarr (Washington Wizards)
  • No. 6 SF Tidjane Salaun (Charlotte Hornets)
  • No. 25 SF Pacôme Dadiet (New York Knicks)

Now let’s keep in mind none of these players have the pedigree, hype, or incredible physical attributes of Victor Wembanyama, last year’s No. 1 overall pick from France who was the most hyped NBA prospect since LeBron James in 2003.

In fact, there were a few different players experts thought the Hawks could use the No. 1 pick on before they settled on Risacher, who was named Best Young Player of the 2023-24 LNB Elite season, averaging 10.1 points and 3.8 rebounds on 22 minutes per game. He can blend in with guard Trae Young in Atlanta, and he can defend guards and forwards.

Alex Sarr’s brother Olivier plays in the NBA for the Thunder. He could add some size and shooting to the Wizards, who traded Kristaps Porzingis to Boston a year ago this week. Sarr was heavily favored to go No. 2 with Washington reportedly at the top of his wish list.

Likewise, Tidjane Salaun comes from a basketball family and was often mocked for landing in Charlotte with the No. 6 pick. He was named the MVP of the 2023 Trophée du Futur tournament last year.

As for the Knicks’ selection of Pacôme Dadiet, I have to agree with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith as I had no idea who he was either. He played for Paris Basketball, OrangeAcademy, and Ratiopharm Utm.

Top 5 Shakeup in the 2024 NBA Draft

The top of the draft was chalked according to where sportsbooks had the top picks going. But things took a turn at No. 5 when the Detroit Pistons drafted small forward Ron Holland (+1500 at bet365) when Matas Buzelis (+140) and Donovan Clingan (+180) had the best odds by far.

The Pistons are coming off that abysmal 14-68 season and haven’t been able to figure things out with their young talent in recent years. Maybe avoiding Detroit, which hasn’t had a winning record since 2015-16, is a blessing in disguise for these players.

Clingan, a center from UConn, went No. 7 to Portland while Buzelis, a G League forward from Lithuania, went No. 11 to the Bulls. Buzelis is an interesting scorer to keep an eye on in Chicago. He would have been one of the top players in the 2023 class too before he decided to play for the NBA G League Ignite.

Dalton Knecht Slides in the NBA Draft to the Lakers at No. 17

Getting Bronny James wasn’t the only story of this 2024 NBA draft for the Lakers. On the first night, the Lakers stayed put at No. 17 while small forward Dalton Knecht from Tennessee fell to them.

Knecht had +200 odds to go No. 6 in the draft as the favorite for that pick, and he also had -300 odds to go under 7.5 in the draft. So, falling to 17th was one of the largest drops of the night for any first-round prospect this year.

The 23-year-old Knecht has experience, but that can work against you in the draft process where teams are trying to draft people barely a year out of high school. Knecht led the Big Sky in scoring at Northern Colorado in 2022-23 when he averaged 20.2 points per game. To prove that was no fluke, he transferred to Tennessee last year and averaged 21.7 points per game in the SEC. He also shoots 38.3% from 3-point territory for his career.

The Lakers could use another shooter, so getting Knecht at No. 17 sounds like great value. His age isn’t much of a factor for a team where its best player is about to turn 40.

NBA Rookie to Watch: Zach Edey

An intriguing prospect from this NBA draft is Zach Edey, the 7’4” center from Purdue. He led the nation in scoring last year and is a two-time national College Player of the Year award winner. He led Purdue to the National Final where the team lost to Connecticut despite 37 points from Edey.

Edey is a very productive and efficient player. His career 38.7 PER is easily the best in men’s college basketball since 2009-10. That particular leaderboard has translated very little to NBA success, but Edey has incredible size and potential in the Memphis offense, especially if guard Ja Morant can stay out of trouble and feed his new center the ball.

Early NBA Rookie of the Year Odds for 2024-25 Season

Unlike last year, we have to actually give some thought to this NBA season’s Rookie of the Year race. Victor Wembanyama was such an easy choice over the field last year, and sure enough, he made good on his hype by averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, and a league-best 3.6 blocks per game.

But this draft class has been criticized for months, and there was no consensus favorite for the No. 1 pick. There isn’t a heavy favorite for Rookie of the Year either as the best odds start at +500 right now when looking at FanDuel. Here are the current odds leaders (everyone better than +2000) for NBA Rookie of the Year 2024-25:

  • Alex Sarr, Wizards (+500)
  • Zaccharie Risacher, Hawks (+750)
  • Stephon Castle, Spurs (+750)
  • Reed Sheppard, Rockets (+900)
  • Dalton Knecht, Lakers (+1000)
  • Zach Edey, Grizzlies (+1000)
  • Matas Buzelis, Bulls (+1200)
  • Ron Holland, Pistons (+1200)

For the record, Bronny James is +30000, but let’s not go there. He’s not even the best choice on his team for this award (Knecht is).

We mentioned most of these players above. Stephon Castle is the No. 3 pick and newest guard for the Spurs. Coach Gregg Popovich has usually brought his guards along slowly, such as Tony Parker and Dejounte Murray, and Castle only averaged 11.1 points and 2.9 assists per game at UConn last year.

Reed Sheppard was the SEC Freshman of the Year at Kentucky where he averaged 12.5 points and 4.5 assists per game. He’ll join that Houston roster that is basically Fred VanVleet and a lot of young talent (Jalen Green, Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., and Alperen Sengun).

You don’t always need big numbers to win this award, and it is unlikely anyone sniffs what Wemby did last season. When Malcolm Brogdon won Rookie of the Year for the Bucks in 2016-17, he only averaged 10.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game.

When there’s not a dominant force in the rookie class like a Wemby or LeBron, you have to start looking at who will be in a great opportunity to compile impressive stats right away. Someone like Knecht may be a good player right away, but if he’s playing behind LeBron, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reaves in that offense, then he may not have enough juice for Rookie of the Year. Also, we still have to see which trades and free-agent moves happen to shake up these rosters.

But Sarr does look like a deserving favorite on a Washington team that has so little going for it following a 15-win campaign. The good news is team success is not a prerequisite for this award or else Wemby might have been dinged for playing on a 60-loss team. Sarr is someone who could even lead his team in scoring as a rookie while seeing plenty of minutes.

Edey with +1000 odds is also a tempting value in Memphis. But it will be interesting to see which players shine the most from a draft class that was criticized for not having the flash and consistency of past years.

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Photo of Scott Kacsmar Scott Kacsmar28/06/2024 - 06:03 am