Rumors

The exec pointed out that, after a heart condition before his freshman year at USC, James was running behind in his development for more than a year. He seemed to catch up in the G League with the South Bay Lakers. James averaged 21.9 points, 44.3% shooting and 38.0% 3-point shooting there. 

athlonsports.com

The eldest daughter of Kobe Bryant, Natalia, graduated from the University of Southern California on Friday and had a special detail on her sash Natalia included her late father's iconic Nike sheath logo at the top, hovering right on her heart.

ESPN

Bronny poured himself into getting back onto the court, and went on to average 4.8 points in 25 games for USC before getting selected by the Lakers as the 55th overall pick in June. But ever since that moment, Bronny has been subjected to an unprecedented amount of scrutiny for a late second-round pick, with accusations of nepotism regularly being floated by his detractors. Unsurprisingly, it took a hit on his mental health. "I was under a lot of pressure," Bronny said. "It was getting to me a little bit."

FoxSports.com

Shams Charania: Five-star USC commit Alijah Arenas has been released from the hospital one week after his serious car crash in the Los Angeles area. Statement from the family:

Twitter

Alijah Arenas, a top high school basketball prospect and teenage son of former NBA star Gilbert Arenas, emerged from a coma and has shown "significant signs of progress" in the wake of a serious car crash in Los Angeles, his family said Friday. The USC commit was hospitalized after his Tesla Cybertruck slammed into a tree and fire hydrant a little before 5 a.m. Thursday, a law enforcement source said.

NBC

DeRozan, a former teammate of Vučević in college at USC and for three NBA seasons with the Bulls, credited Vučević’s commitment to his craft. “I mean, Vooch takes care of himself extremely well,” DeRozan said. “The things he does off the court, people probably won’t see. He does a lot of stuff to stay on top of his game. He was always the first guy in the weight room, constantly working on his body, getting his body together. All of the stuff like that is what gives you longevity. “Knock on wood, he’s never hurt. He’s always available. That’s just a testament to his hard work that he puts toward the game off the court.”

New York Times

"Nobody pressured Bronny to go pro," Paul said. "Bronny had a choice to stay at USC, he had a choice to transfer somewhere else or he had a choice to go pro." This was Bronny's call, Paul said, and Bronny's alone -- and one that publicly and privately drew immediate criticism.

ESPN

Scalabrine discussed a host of topics including the origins of his White Mamba nickname. The former USC Trojan shared that the late great Kobe Bryant, owner of the Black Mamba nickname, had mini conversations with him over the years about the nickname over the years and shared that Bryant had no problem with it and that it is all love.  “So he hit me up on Twitter a couple times,” Scalabrine tells Scoop B Radio of the Black Mamba. He dapped me up in the last game I had in LA like one of his last games against the Celtics, but we never really discussed it. But I think he stamped it one time for me so I think I’m good.”

ScoopB.com

Anton Watson’s first name was mispronounced and he got only a brief mention from ESPN’s draft analysts before they quickly shifted their attention to the 55th overall pick, used by the Los Angeles Lakers on USC’s Bronny James, the oldest son of NBA star LeBron James. “I think the last 10 picks they were talking about Bronny,” Watson said. “You don’t try to focus on that, but that definitely puts a chip on your shoulder. That’s crazy, I think it’s a little bit crazy.”

Spokesman-Review

Most mock drafts project Bronny to be selected in either the second round or not at all after averaging 4.8 points on 36.6% and 2.1 assists during his freshman season at USC. The Lakers could select Bronny at the No. 55 pick. However, an informal sampling of other NBA executives expressed doubt that the Lakers would trade up in the draft to secure Bronny or that another team would select him in hopes that James would join them as a free agent. “That plays no part in it at all,” one NBA executive told Sportskeeda. “That’s pretty short-sighted. Any team would love to have LeBron. But I don’t think any team would draft Bronny and go, ‘Hey, we’ll now have a chance to get him.’”

SportsKeeda

Dalton Johnson: Dennis Rodman's son, DJ, is part of the Warriors' pre-draft workout tomorrow Rodman, a 6-foot-5 forward, played four seasons at Washington State and a fifth at USC. He averaged 9.0 points and 5.4 rebounds his final two years, shooting 37.2% from 3

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Bronny’s freshman year at USC was underwhelming from a scouting standpoint. He ended the season averaging 4.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists while shooting 27.3% from behind the arc. There’s hesitation in his 3-ball and he didn’t assert himself on offense enough this season, playing alongside two ball-dominant guards in Collier and Boogie Ellis. Where he’s most impactful is on the defensive end. Bronny can defend both positions in the backcourt, keeping players in front, and is an excellent rebounder for his size. He’s gotten stronger since last year and does a good job at establishing position when the shot goes up. “He’s a very smart player and has a solid feel for the game,” one NBA scout told Yahoo Sports. “He needs more time to develop, but the fundamental mechanics are there.”

Yahoo! Sports

Bronny, meanwhile showed some of the same traits we saw at USC: An inability to gain separation off the dribble or get into the paint, and a limited ability to leverage his straight-line speed and one-leg leaping ability in the run of play. James hit two 3-pointers in the second game and made two floaters in the first, but over the course of his two days, he shot 6 of 18 with four rebounds, two assists and four turnovers. He was 2 of 9 on 3-pointers and 3 of 5 from the free-throw line.

New York Times

While he didn’t make spot-up shots at USC, the sense was that he’d shoot the ball fine with time because of his work ethic and mechanics. The first alarm at the combine went off when Bronny measured at just 6 feet 1 ½ inches in socks — “they don’t play in socks,” scouts like to say. “If he was 6 foot 5, we’d be talking about him in the first round,” one NBA executive told The Times.

Los Angeles Times