The serenity of Bronny James

LaBron James' oldest son looked more like a G-League South Bay Laker than a Los Angeles Laker in his NBA Summer League debut the other day, but you know what?

He doesn't care what you think about that.

He doesn't care if his four points, two rebounds, two assists and 2-of-9 shooting in 22 minutes profoundly underwhelmed you.

He doesn't care if he looked exactly like what he is, a nepo hire, or if he's only on the roster because his dad is one of the best three or four players who ever lived, or if he's depriving some stiff from Directional Hyphen State Tech a shot at being either a South Bay Laker or an insurance salesman. Which is what happens to stiffs from DHST who get taken with the 55th pick in the draft.

Bronny James is profoundly serene about all of that.

I suppose that will happen when you're 18 years old and you're playing basketball one day and your heart just, you know, stops beating. And then they run every test known to man on you and operate on your heart and you have to slooooowly work your way back (hard enough when you're 38, let alone 18), and you still manage to play a little for USC last season.

Now the kid's 19 and a Laker, and, listen, when you've been through what he's been through, I suspect he's 19 going on 40. That's what his dad says, anyway. 

LeBron talked a bit about his oldest the other day, see, and he marveled at the way the kid just lets stuff roll off his back. He couldn't do that at his age, Dad says. Trivialities that used to bug the young LeBron aren't even blips on Bronny's radar, apparently.

"I don't know if people really understand Bronny," LeBron said in an interview with ESPN. "He doesn't care. I actually care a little bit. When I came in (as a rookie), I wanted people to like me, and some of the things that people were saying about me kind of bothered me early on in my career ...

"He doesn't even listen to that stuff. He's like the coolest. He's like the complete opposite of his dad. Everything that's being said about him, he really does not care."

You know what?

I like that.

I think it shows some maturity. I think it hints at where his focus is, and that it's where it should be. And it makes me root for the kid, even if  his skill set clearly isn't NBA-ready yet. 

You go, young man. You go.