Some non-risky business

 The Los Angeles Lakers made Bronny James the 55th player taken in the NBA draft last night, and then, God bless 'em, they tried really hard to make it sound like he wasn't the 55th player taken in the NBA draft.

Lakers GM Rob Pelinka declared Bronny has the makings of a disruptive on-ball defender and effective 3-point shooter.

Forward Anthony Davis said he's "very good defensively" and a "really good playmaker" who impressed A.D. with his ability to read the defense and make the right pass at the right time.

The Blob's take on that is this: Bronny James is 19 years old, he's listed at 6-1 (although he may be taller), and in his one season at USC, he averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists playing slightly less than half of each game.

Also, his dad (LeBron James) has until 5 p.m. tomorrow to either opt in to the last year of his Lakers contract, or become an unrestricted free agent.

If you think that isn't relevant, I have some prime oceanfront property in Nebraska to sell you.

Of course it's relevant. Of course the Lakers plainly wanted some extra leverage in order to hang onto LeBron, and drafting Bronny was the most obvious way to do that.

So, they took the kid. He's undersized, his sample size is virtually non-existent, and he's likely a G-League send-down if he's not LeBron's kid.

But you know what?

None of that matters.

It doesn't matter, because, except on the rarest of occasions, the 55th pick in the draft will never be an impact piece of the grand plan. It's a squander-proof pick. You could take Driveway Joe with it and your team would be no better or worse for it.

So why not take Bronny? What's the downside?

The answer, of course, is there isn't one. By the time you get to the 55th pick, you're down to the crumbs and un-popped kernels anyway. No matter how Bronny pans out (or doesn't pan out), no one in the Lakers front office is going to be smacking himself in the forehead a year from now and saying "Ah, geez, we coulda taken that big kid from Tierra del Fuego!"

Instead, now Bronny and LeBron (presumably) will get to be the first father-son combo in NBA history ever to play together. Lotta positive vibes there, and God knows the Lakers could use some. Lotta great pub. Lotta distraction, too, but, hell, it's L.A. They're used to it out there.

And if it turns out Bronny can play a little?

Gravy. Pure gravy.