No One Is Buying Reported Reason Teams Are Interested In Bronny James

After being medically cleared by the league's doctors, Bronny James has chosen to remain in the NBA Draft, setting the stage for an interesting next step for LeBron James' oldest son.

Bronny's freshman year stats (4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game) at USC were underwhelming, and certainly not indicative of a player ready for the pro game. However, there's at least some NBA interest for the former McDonald's All-American.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, it's not just for basketball reasons. NBA teams think that James' name will help fill G League arenas and sell team merchandise.

“He will pack G League arenas, merchandising. All of those make him an attractive player, whether it's late first round or second round," Wojnarowski said.

Needless to say, people are skeptical of this take.

"Bronny isn’t going to pack G League arenas lol. He didn’t pack LA arenas this year at USC," said The Athletic's Sam Vecenie. "Team had an average attendance of 6300 in an arena that supports 10K+. The merchandising probably has some potential."

"Come on. USC ranked eighth in the PAC-12 in home attendance this season," added Vecenie's colleague Kyle Tucker.

"To watch what exactly?" a fan asked.

"Bronny isn’t packing anyone’s G-League building. Stop," said GulfLive.com Texas beat writer Josh Newman.

"If this was even remotely true the teams should draft Caitlin Clark instead," chimed in Hoops Insight's Sean Vinsel.

"I'm not sure that anyone has ever gone to a G League game. I think it's just a made up thing," another fan said.

It seems far-fetched that Bronny would have a major impact on a G League team's bottom line. It's more likely that an NBA team would want to draft him because they think it would give them a shot at acquiring his dad.

For his part, Bronny did reportedly turn in a strong performance at Monday night's draft combine, showing off his vertical leap and outside shooting.