5 Increasingly bold moves Lakers can make to cause chaos at 2024 NBA Draft

4. Select Bronny James at No. 17 overall

As mentioned, Bronny James is viewed by many NBA Draft analysts as a prospect with a second-round grade. It's resulted in the Los Angeles Lakers being linked to James at No. 55 overall—so much so that, even without the aggregate data, it's still perceived as the most commonly projected landing spot.

If chaos is the name of the game, however, then hardly anything would cause more of a stir in the NBA community than the Lakers selecting James in the first round, instead.

It's fair to ask how this wouldn't be No. 1, as James going to the Lakers in the first round would set the NBA community ablaze. Calls of nepotism would be inevitable, and Los Angeles would find itself under fire for potentially sacrificing a pick in an effort to placate LeBron James.

It would be a difficult moment to witness in the short term, albeit while providing an opportunity for Bronny James to silence the skeptics.

No matter how well James plays, however, one can't help but look at the criticism that his father, a four-time MVP, has encountered. Nothing seems to be good enough when you're the face of the NBA, and being related to them is unlikely to make things any easier—especially as a teammate.

Some would likely view this as a nice moment and a fair landing spot for an intriguing prospect, but pretending there wouldn't be a chaotic response would be naive.