By Aidan Joly
On Saturday, Bronny James, the 18-year-old son of LeBron James made it official what the college basketball world had been expecting the past few weeks: that he’s not going far from his current home and will play for the USC Trojans this season.
USC is a program that struggles to catch eyeballs in Los Angeles and even on its own campus, having the reputation of a football school.
That is all about to change, at least for a season.
Sure, you can put it at about a 99% chance that James will be a one-and-done to join his father in the NBA in 2024, probably playing with him, as LeBron has expressed a desire to do in recent years.
Now, the Trojans might be the toughest ticket to get in the entire city of Los Angeles this coming winter. Between two teams in each the NBA, NHL, NFL and MLB, two popular MLS teams, an NWSL team, golf’s U.S. Open, the Olympics and the World Cup in the city currently and in the coming years, not to mention UCLA, it’s tough to think of another time this has been the case. And I haven’t even mentioned the beaches, nightlife and Hollywood.
Andy Enfield has been patrolling the sidelines at the Galen Center for a decade now and has made the NCAA tournament five times, so there has been no shortage of talent to come through his program. He got USC to the Elite Eight for just the fourth time in program history in 2021, its first time at that point in two decades and just the second time since the 1950s.
James is not even the best player in this recruiting class for the Trojans. That goes to five-star prospect Isaiah Collier, a 6-foot-3 guard who is a consensus number one for the class of 2023. They have another coming in, a four-star forward in Arrinten Page, from Georgia.
In 2020, Enfield got Evan Mobley, the No. 3 player in the country at the time who is now at the beginning of an NBA career.
So, James is not the best player Enfield has ever recruited, he is just the most noteworthy.
Which brings in a conundrum: What if USC is good and James is not playing the role many thought he would? What if he struggles, whether the team is winning or not? Of course, a successful James figures to be a big reason why USC wins. How involved will LeBron be? So far, he’s been very involved in his son’s development and a fixture on the sidelines at his games at youth levels and at Sierra Canyon. Will he be a distraction? How will the media and public handle all of this? If this goes off the rails, will Enfield’s future recruiting endeavors be hampered?
There’s an inherent risk to this. By all accounts, Bronny is a great kid, a great teammate and a considerate and mature young man. However, his high school team had a fairly pedestrian season this year, finishing 23-10, was third place in the league they play in at 5-2 and had its season end with a 19-point loss in the state semifinals, a game in which James had 10 points. He scored 15 points in the McDonald’s All-American game, not exactly setting the world on fire.
This all being said, it’s a good fit. This is a talented, local kid for a program that needs players. Boogie Ellis is coming back, but three players in the backcourt are gone via transfer. After that, the top remaining three scorers are all in the frontcourt, leaving an opportunity for James to compete for a starting role on day one.
Hype can only bring a player so far. Either he’ll succeed, or he won’t. Once he steps on the court for the Trojans, there will be nowhere to hide. The expectations are there. No matter what happens, USC games will be must-see all season. Are they ready?
AJ Hoops 