In the offseason for a month and a half, most of the league's teams have completed reinforcements and reinforcements in the trade and free market, only the Lakers, Celtics and Cavaliers have not added any players, but the Cavaliers, as a young team, have completed the renewal of core players, and the Celtics are the defending champions.
Throughout the offseason, the Lakers only acquired two rookies in the draft, Knecht and Bronny, and their performances in the summer league caused heated discussions.
Among them, the No. 17 show Knecht is regarded as one of the best instant options in the 24th session, and the summer league averages 18 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game, which seems to be good, but the shooting rate is only 36.7%, and the three-point shooting rate that the Lakers value very much is 34.2%.
With '24 being a recognized draft year and last year's No. 17 pick Schifino playing poorly, the Lakers selected Kneckett with the 17th pick.
If the selection of Kneckett was a normal operation, then taking James' son Bronny with the 55th pick was an undisguised "nepotism".
Because in his season with USC, Bronny averaged only 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, shooting 36.6% overall and 26.7% from three-point range.
Coupled with the fact that he also suffered a cardiac arrest the year before the draft, he had no reason to be drafted other than that his father was James.
Of course, it is not uncommon for Bronny to enter the NBA through "nepotism", after all, he still has huge commercial value in his father James, and has also established his own business empire in the NBA.
It's just that for the players who competed with Bronny, it was obvious that they had suffered unfair treatment, and they were inevitably dissatisfied with it.
An anonymous Lakers summer league player scolded Bronny in an interview with The Sun, bluntly saying that the latter has privileges, destroys team chemistry, and the entire summer league seems to be Bronny's tour.
In an interview with Sam Amico, the player said that everyone in the Lakers Summer League can feel that this team is not united at all, because everyone knows that Bronny is the protagonist and knows that it is not right, and he simply does not deserve that position.
The anonymous player further explained: "He [Bronny] was treated like a special person, not like us, which was very annoying and caused us to have no chemistry and I was frustrated that they wanted to see Bronny shine in the game, resulting in some players, including me, not being put in the best position and not even being placed in some games and plans." ”
Finally, the anonymous player reiterated that it was not he who felt this way, but most people who thought so.
Ask anyone who has played in the California Classic or Summer League for the Lakers, and most will give the same opinion, and the tension is palpable, with everyone wanting the summer league to end quickly and then leave the Lakers to focus on the next step in their careers.
Bronny played in six games this summer, two in the California Classic and four in the Las Vegas Summer League.
In the two California Classics, he averaged 3.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game, shooting 25% overall and 25% three-point shooting.
The Las Vegas Summer League statistics have improved, averaging 8.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1 assist, 0.7 steals and 0.5 blocks per game, shooting 35% overall and 15.8% from three-point range.
It is worth mentioning that the entire Summer League Lakers did not perform well, first suffering a wave of 5 consecutive defeats.
After two narrow wins, Knecht and Bronny missed the final game, and the Lakers won their only big game in the final game, beating the Bulls by 26 points, after the Lakers had won by as many as four points.