Hey Curt, so everyone and their mother, I know my mother is talking about what's going on on the Lakers with LeBron James and his son, Bronny. I wanna talk to you about it from a parenting perspective. There seems to be a lot of overlap in terms of what we do at Maya and also in terms of what we warn parents against. Although I'd say there's very few people in the world who have the level of fame, success.
that someone like LeBron James has. And he and his family enjoy access and incredible, an incredible, God, what's the word? I'm looking for a word. can, ee, legacy. He and his family enjoy his incredible legacy and his children
following in his footsteps one way or another, but it seems like Bronny's getting a lot of criticism as well as is LeBron. Is all of this warranted from a parenting perspective? Is LeBron falling into some pitfalls that some other parents have fallen into?
Curt (01:09.502)
absolutely. don't think Bronny necessarily should be getting this criticism. I don't think people are criticizing Bronny for this I think LeBron the father certainly can be questioned on forcing a situation that his son right now physically or maybe mentally might not be qualified for if his last name wasn't James. You know, I don't question that LeBron loves his son very much, but I don't question that Bronny loves his
I do question whether LeBron's goals of being the first father son to play in a game, an NBA live game, real season game, is overshadowing his fatherly best instincts, meaning part of being a good father is letting your child fail and helping them through that, learning how to pick themselves up, letting them find their own way with whatever they're meant to do.
Sometimes we want to protect our kids. And in this day and age of everyone gets a medal and we don't keep score and no one's a loser. We're seeing a generation come through that. Let's say you're competing for a job or you're, you're down to your last three people interviewing. You don't get it. There's a generation that doesn't understand that. thought everybody wins in this case, LeBron's son is Bronny is not, is clearly not ready to be an NBA player, but LeBron in his,
Whether it's hubris or arrogance or fatherly instinct, he would like to have his son on the Lakers and has either forced it or manipulated it. I don't want to get into, you know, how much he controls the Lakers, but Certainly his son being with him on the Lakers on a two year, $8 million contract and even being drafted certainly looks like heavy influence from LeBron and Rich Paul, his agent. LeBron loves his son and he wants the best for him. I assume.
And he thinks the best is to put him in an unnatural situation that he's not ready for. As a father, I think a lot of fathers around the country are cringing because you're setting your son up to fail. He's going to fail at this because he's not an NBA player yet. And to be forced into that role, to actually bring your son through this nepotism way onto the ice, the court, the field in a pro league where you have to earn your spot.
Curt (03:35.646)
I don't think he's putting his son's interests before his own. Let Bronny find his way in life. Let Bronny compete to the best of his ability. And if he makes the NBA fantastic, if he doesn't, He'll have to find his way in life. That's meant for him, not his father. So I think the nation itself is, jumping on the bandwagon, as you might say, as far as criticism.
Obviously LeBron's a lightning rod of a personality and a sports figure where you either love him or hate him. And like I said, I'm not, don't have an ax to grind with LeBron and Bronny seems like a very nice kid, but based on his interviews, you know, even on the pre drafts interviews, he, his goal, his dream was never to play with his father. He wanted to, you know, create his own legacy and earn it. And yes, fathers help sons along the way. There is nepotism in sports. There is nepotism at
let's say in industry since the beginning of time. But this crosses a line that I think is hurting his son. In a sense, making his son a joke, the butt of jokes, memes. putting his son in a position. He's just an 18 year old kid. seems like a very nice kid where he's just gonna hear in every arena he goes to the chirping and the insults. And the problem is the insults or the chirping has validity. He isn't qualified already
take on this role. He may never be time will tell, but it's being forced into it. And I feel bad for him because his way in life and his journey that LeBron could help him with may not be what LeBron's moment of playing with his son in the NBA is all about. and it's a very hot topic. Everyone knows that his son needs more training, more time to see if he can become a great player at NBA level player will say. And as a father, it hurts to watch.
a nice 18 year old kid who of course you'll stand by your father. He'll do whatever he says. He'll, you know, He'll carry the torch, but is this what really what Bronny wants? Um, As I prepared for this piece and asked other fathers, what their opinion was, a couple of things came up. One was, well, you would do it for your kid to get in the NBA. And of course there's an $8 million contract guarantee. And I said, absolutely not setting your son up for failure for my
Curt (05:56.95)
Selfish reasons for a glorious moment of being the first father son to throw a pass to each other or an alley -oop 100% and the eight million dollars is laughable the broad James is worth 1 .5 billion Bronny James made millions in NIL money before he turned pro he could he has social media following in the millions he could do like a Manning show like the Manning brothers do for football and just talk about basketball while it's going on and have two million subscribers and a half a million in sponsorship
This was not about making sure your son could make $8 million. He would make that in college at USC through the NIL money program. So I didn't, I would, I didn't think that was, know, you'd do the same. you'd want your kid in the NBA because as much as I want it at the way LeBron wants his son in the NBA, he, is it what he wants and how he wants to get there? Does he want a backdoor wink, wink, I got you here. I didn't earn it. Or did he want to try to earn it on his own?
And in the end, as powerful as LeBron James is, and you're right, his family is like the Kardashians of sports, right? The kids very much in the spotlight, lots of money coming in through different social media parts. Is this something that is going to make Bronny, you know, happier or worse off inside? Not money wise. Money is not in their basketball court in Beverly Hills probably cost six million to put in. It's not about money. It's about the human being. And actually, as you said, I
I'd love to get Bronny James in the Maya Teen Program because the first half of the program goes over this of internal validation and what your true representation of yourself and what you want to be in life. And I'd be very curious to hear his own story without what his dad say would like him to do.
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