The Los Angeles Lakers drafted Bronny James, the 6’2” guard from USC who is the son of Lakers forward Lebron James, in the second round of the 2024 NBA draft. They did so primarily because Lebron wants to play with his son in the NBA before he retires.
This is a laudable desire. It would be good if more fathers would prioritize the success of their sons over their own interests. However, it’s very likely that Lebron did his son a serious disservice by forcing the Lakers to draft Bronny James.
Like him or not - and I very much dislike James, viewing him as a hypocritical SJW and feeble pretender to the throne of Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time - James is a mega Alpha. He’s been the king of his social hierarchies since halfway through high school. He’s also a unique physical specimen with exceedingly rare athletic gifts, a freak of nature who somehow remains relevant on the basketball court even at the NBA-ancient age of 39.
His son Bronny, on the other hand, nearly died of a vaccine-related heart attack at the age of 18. He survived, however, and went on to average 5 points per game as a freshman for a mediocre USC team finished ninth in the Pac-12 with a 15-18 record. He’s short for the sport, he’s not an unusually special player and he’s not even remotely ready to play at the NBA level. Despite his genetics, he simply may not even have the physical ability to play at that level, not even if he stayed at USC all four years.
What appears to be the mistake that Lebron James has made with his son out of a loving desire to help him is one that many, if not most, Alphas make with regards to their own children. An Alpha father can have a Delta son, or even a Gamma son, and no amount of trying to tell his son what to do, and perhaps more importantly, what not to do, is going to change the younger man’s behavioral patterns very much.
“You just don’t understand.” “You don’t get it.” “It’s different for me.” “Things have changed.” No matter what advice the successful man gives the failure, the failure will always find a way to discount, discredit, and refuse the advice that would help him. This is as true of fathers and sons as it is of every other male relationship.
It’s very different when fathers and sons are SSH-equivalents. Then the sons are much more willing to listen to advice and apply it, because they find it much more relevant to their own experience. The contrast of Antoine Winfield Sr. and Jr. with the two Jameses provides an excellent example; the younger Winfield has already surpassed his father’s stellar NFL career and yet they remain both friendly and extremely competitive with each other.
“You give me five yards in a forty-yard dash, I feel really disrespected about that. But I’m gonna take it.” - Antoine Winfield Sr.
And what applies to fathers applies even more comprehensively to the man himself. You are what you are. There is no amount of self-persuasion, self-justification, self-rationalization, or self-delusion that is going to change that. If you are a liar, a coward, a self-saboteur, or a clueless social outcast, then that is what you are.
Until you fully embrace and accept reality, you cannot even begin to change it. Until you fully embrace your own limits, you will have a natural tendency to operate outside them and ensure your own failure thereby.
The great philosophers advised: “know thyself”. Sun Tzu promised that if you know yourself and you know your enemy, you will never lose a battle.
Therefore, don’t give into the temptation of delusion. That way lies only failure.
Similar to what was said here, Chris Broussard pointed out that Lebron is using his influence to help his son, as many fathers have done in the past in all the major sports. While I dislike Lebron’s style, I had to agree.
Julien Edelman had his dad on his podcast. I recommend it.