LeBron James torched over comment about son

LeBron James has taken the rare step of deleting his comments after a storm erupted around his son’s future.

Bronny James greeted by his father and NBA player LeBron James. Photo by Christian Petersen / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP.

LeBron James has taken the rare step of deleting his tweets after a storm erupted around his son Bronny’s NBA future.

The King on Tuesday was called out over an apparent act of hypocrisy when he hit out at a recent media report about Bronny’s projected place in the 2024 NBA Draft class.

Bronny, a freshman standout at the University of Southern California, is now expected to miss the 2024 Draft, and will likely have to wait until next year to be selected.

Bronny’s now-unclear entrance into the NBA has major ramifications for the NBA’s all-time scoring leader, while speculation swirls about the Lakers legend’s retirement plans.

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Cold water was poured on the prospect of James playing alongside his son earlier this month when Bronny first slid off ESPN’s mock draft board — outside the top 60 draftees.

The talk about Bronny appears to have got under James’ skin and he hit out on Twitter.

Bronny James of the USC Trojans. Photo by Thearon W. Henderson / GETTY IMAGES.

“Can yall please just let the kid be a kid and enjoy college basketball,” James wrote.

“The work and results will ultimately do the talking no matter what he decides to do. If y’all don’t know he doesn’t care what a mock draft says, he just WORKS! Earned Not Given.”

He wrote in another deleted post: “And to all the other kids out there striving to be great just keep your head down, blinders on and keep grinding. These Mock Drafts doesn’t matter one bit! I promise you! Only the WORK MATTERS!! Let’s talk REAL BASKETBALL PEOPLE.”

His comments from last year have come back to bite him.

How it started vs how it’s going pic.twitter.com/RC5E4eQGTL

— BrickMuse (@BrickMuse) February 26, 2024

One NBA fan account that called James out for his apparent hypocrisy has more than two million views and 29,000 likes on Twitter.

James’ outburst hasn’t stopped the flood of speculation surrounding Bronny.

“I think it’s very possible and probably likely that he still declares for the draft after the year,” NBA Draft guru Adam Finkelstein of 247Sports.com said on College Basketball Recruiting Weekly.

Bronny James greeted by his father. Photo by Christian Petersen / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP.

“And if you have followed LeBron James over the years, you should know that this is a man who dictates more front office moves than maybe any player in NBA history. He’s been setting this up for two years. I think it’s very possible Bronny James is in the NBA next year, but as I said last year, that won’t be based solely on his own merit as a prospect but on what comes with being LeBron James’ son.”

The 39-year-old, meanwhile, said during the All Star weekend he hasn’t yet formulated his retirement plans.

“I have not mapped out how many seasons I have left. I know it’s not that many,” said James, who is in his 21st NBA campaign.

“I am a Laker and I’ve been very happy being a Laker the last six years and hopefully it stays that way. But I don’t have the answer to how long it is or which uniform I’ll be in.

“Hopefully it’s with the Lakers. It’s a great organisation and so many greats. But we’ll see. I don’t know how it’s going to end, but it’s coming. It’s coming, for sure.”

Originally published as LeBron James torched over comment about son