Gilbert Arenas defends Bronny James, says he’d be top 5 for Rookie of the Year

Former NBA player Gilbert Arenas defended Bronny James and LeBron James amid criticism. Many experts have slammed LeBron James for influencing the franchise’s decision to rope in his son.

However, Arenas backed LeBron James and his son and said the youngster would have been averaging 12 points a game if he had been playing 36 minutes. Arenas feels James Jr. would have been among the top five Rookie of the Year.

Arenas said on Gil Arena’s podcast, “If they played him 36 minutes, he would be averaging 12 (points), four (rebounds), and four (assists),” Arenas said. “He’d be top 5 for Rookie of the Year.”

The NBA analyst said Bronny James would have joined the Lakers as a free agent if he had not been picked as the 55th pick in the NBA draft.

“Let’s say Bronny don’t get picked,” Arenas said. “Are you gonna tell us that LeBron James and the Lakers wouldn’t have signed him as a free agent and whoever they picked with the 55th pick wouldn’t have got cut? Are we gonna pretend that wasn’t gonna be the case?”

Meanwhile, NBA expert Steve A. Smith has been one of the naysayers of Bronny James. Smith recently said that Bronny should play in the G League and the Lakers should not play him in the NBA until he is fully ready. However, his comments didn’t sit well with LeBron James and he had a confrontation with the expert at Crypto.com last Thursday.

“That wasn’t a basketball player confronting me,” Smith said the following day on First Take. “That was a parent, that was a father. I can’t sit here and be angry or feel slighted by LeBron James in any way in that regard. By all accounts, he’s obviously a wonderful family man and a wonderful father who cares very, very deeply about his son.”

The Lakers will next take on the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday.