Bronny James recruiting: Best fits for LeBron James’ son include college, G

Carrying the last name of perhaps the greatest NBA player of all time has its benefits, but also has its challenges. For high school star LeBron James Jr., better known as “Bronny,” that includes the lofty expectations surrounding his development as a prospect. It all adds up to intrigue if — as LeBron James himself has said he hopes will come to fruition — the two someday can play together in the NBA.

For years that has been the subject of fun fodder — seriously, can you imagine how wild it’d be to see a (probably by then) completely bald LeBron running the court with his oldest son?! — but that’s no longer the longshot possibility it once seemed. Bronny is now a 17-year-old, Class of 2023 prospect regarded as a consensus top-50 national prospect in his class. 

And yet it’s unclear, even given his strong credentials and bloodline, just how realistic it is to expect Bronny in an NBA uniform someday. Even more unclear is the path he’ll endeavor to try and get there. As LeBron pointed out, it is quite early in the process.

So I asked the experts to help lay out that path with me. What is the state of Bronny’s game? Where do we project him right now after a strong showing this summer on the Nike EYBL circuit with Strive for Greatness? Will he go to college, and if not, what are his other options? I tapped gurus Adam Finkelstein, 247Sports’ director of scouting, and Eric Bossi, 247Sports’ national basketball director, for their insights on Bronny James.

Bronny’s rankings journey

Two years ago next month, Bronny debuted in the 247Sports Composite rankings as a top-20 prospect, setting expectations that he was on a potential collision course to stardom. He was bigger and more skilled than most of his peers as a 15-year-old, and that, combined with his pedigree and the pandemic, helped fuel his early steam.

“When Bronny was first ranked in September 2020, we were in the middle of a pandemic and there was probably never another time where players had been seen less for that first ranking,” Bossi said. “Now, we’ve seen the Class of 2023 much more and the pool of players from which we are ranking has grown considerably. I think he’s kind of on the same path he’s been on for a while. He goes for stretches and games where he just kind of blends in and then has some really promising performances, and personally I feel being ranked somewhere in the top 50ish range is appropriate for him at this point.”

James is now ranked 49 by 247Sports and No. 43 in the 247Sports Composite. He hasn’t fallen off as a recruit necessarily — to consistently be ranked as a top-50 player nationally is quite a feat, as both Bossi and Finkelstein agreed — but he has lost at least some hype overall, falling from a five-star to a four-star recruit. 

“To spend your entire high school years within that top 50 range is actually pretty impressive consistency,” Finkelstein said. “Early on, you saw all the tools and you were betting on bloodlines a little bit. He obviously never caught that late growth spurt and his game was more about impacting winning in more subtle ways than…