LeBron James has set a new bar for nepotism in sports - The Globe and Mail

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, left, warms up with son and guard Bronny James before a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, on Oct. 22.Eric Thayer/The Associated Press

On Tuesday night, the NBA’s big summer talking point resolved itself – LeBron James played on the same court as his son, Bronny.

‘Play’ is a term of art here. James père was playing. James fils was briefly taking up space.

Bronny put up the sort of stat line for the Los Angeles Lakers that he’s managed throughout the preseason – three minutes, two shots, no points and no assists. Were it not for one soft rebound, one might fairly say that you could have done just as well.

The problem with Bronny James is not that he isn’t good enough to be in the NBA – which he isn’t.

Every league has guys who aren’t good enough to be there, but are. Maybe because the coach likes them, or they’re signed to a forever deal well past their sell-by date. The trick is to be amenable.

By all accounts, Bronny James is that likeable sort of person. Sure, he’s a shrimp compared to his dad, and wasn’t good enough to start for his college team, and suffered a cardiac arrest just over a year ago.

But so what? In order for a very few guys to be really good, someone has to be a little bad. Why not him?

Bronny could be out there in an eye patch and on crutches and it wouldn’t be much different than watching former Raptor Oliver Miller play full-court defence.

No, the problem with Bronny isn’t skill. It’s shamelessness.

Until now, sports people still pretended pro sports was a meritocracy. After Bronny, only a very naive person or an employee of the NBA could continue to believe that.

Sports has never been meritocratic. It’s always been meritocratic-ish.

The ideal works at the highest level. Jackie Robinson didn’t break the modern-day colour barrier because the times they were a-changin’. He did so because his talent was undeniable.

If you’ve got that special thing, nothing else about you matters. Short, squat, slack-jawed, loud-mouthed? All surmountable as long as you can really get hold of the curveball.

Sports is the only workplace where that lie we tell children – ‘You can be whatever you want to be’ – is true. Everywhere else, you can be what someone in charge allows you to be.

But if sports is perfectly fair at the top, it gets less and less so as you approach the bottom.

Wayne Gretzky’s son was drafted by the Chicago Cubs. His minor-league baseball career didn’t get far. Now he’s an actor/producer. Something tells me this career progression might not have gone as smoothly if his last name were Smith.

This dodge passes without comment because it sometimes works out. Mike Piazza was taken 1,390th in the 1988 baseball draft because Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda owed his father a solid. Piazza went on to make the Hall of Fame.

The issue here isn’t ethics, of which pro sports has very little. It’s proportion. Where nepotism or favouritism exists, it is done on a small scale. All true rewards are contingent on performance. Whatever deal has been cut is done quietly.

Then LeBron James comes along and whistleblows on his own grift. James has been talking for years about how he wants to play with his son. (Translation: I will only go to a team that promises to make that happen.)

The Lakers were happy to trade the bump in jersey sales and one NBA title for a little roster fix. The rest of the NBA cleared a path so that Bronny would still be available with the 55th pick.

Why didn’t another team draft Bronny, either forcing his father to make a hard decision or forcing the Lakers to give up a player of real value for him? Because that’s not how fixes work.

If the goal was to keep this even the teensiest bit on the down low, Bronny would have been sent straight to the G League. Think of all the thumbsuckers that could have been written about a hardworking young man trying to do it the right way.

But nope. Having agreed a deal, the Jameses did not care to wait for the payoff. In their position, I’d probably expect the same thing.

One kid getting an enormous leg up isn’t a problem. It’s all the other people with their legs in the air that will be.

If LeBron James can get his semi-talented son into the the world’s top basketball league, what could Lionel Messi do? If Messi wants his brother on his Major League Soccer team, people in that league will fall all over themselves to say what a great idea that is.

What if he wants his own kid on the team? And that kid is still in high school? Or he wants two kids?

Stars are always looking for new ways to flex. Teams are asked to provide all sorts of extracurriculars in order to prove their love.

What if the new flex is getting some halfwit you went to high school with into the starting lineup of the New York Yankees?

Money means very little to sports franchises any more. But their dignity? That is something they won’t sell cheaply. That’s something they would only surrender to the truly exceptional player.

Would the Yankees sign a son or a cousin for Gerrit Cole or Aaron Judge? Absolutely not. They’re both under contract. But for soon-to-be free agent Juan Soto? Maybe.

Until now, few athletes would think to try. No star would go so far lest he look ridiculous. Why ask for something you know you can’t have?

LeBron and Bronny James just proved you can have it. And not just have it. But be celebrated for having the gall to ask for it. James father and son have set the new bar for athletic superstardom.

From now on, you will never know how great you were until you asked for something no team wants to give you, and got it anyway.