Gilbert Arenas goes ballistic on NBA teams' over-reliance on mock drafts for scouting college basketball prospects: "Something is wrong with you"

For the past few weeks, the NBA mock draft for 2024 has been making a buzz. While mock drafts are usually used to highlight the future talents that can be expected to impact the league, Gilbert Arenas questioned their credibility..

Arenas spoke about it on his podcast, The Gils Arena Show:

“If you are an NBA team and you’re going off of mock drafts that’s done by non-athletic people who watch college basketball and workouts…Something is wrong with you. These aren't NBA scouts going down there, judging the kids. So your mock draft is not done by professional eyes.”

His suggestion to the NBA teams was to do the groundwork themselves.

"You better start working these motherf*****g kids out, putting them in your program, and seeing how good they are. Because that is why yall missing who's good."

Mock drafts have been the topic of conversation on social media for some time now because of a certain NBA veteran.

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LeBron James blasts the internet after Bronny's 2024 mock draft snub

The LA Lakers forward went off at people for pressuring his son, Bronny James, after he was dropped from the 2024 NBA mock draft. James Jr. was initially projected as a second-round pick before disappearing from the list. Right now, the USC Trojans guard is included for 2025, but at No. 39.

When the news of Bronny's snub hit the internet, users began to make fun of the freshman, with some even claiming that he could never play in the NBA. Dad, LeBron James had had enough of it all as he admonished everyone for putting too much weight on mock drafts. Bron also asked other players not to focus on them but rather put in the hard work since that is all that matters.

Many fans pointed out that the expectations from Bronny James were mostly due to his father. LeBron James had gone as far as to claim his son was good enough to play in the Lakers team despite just being a freshman. Meanwhile, some others defended Bron saying that he was just being a proud father and that the younger James deserves it all.

Reports now suggest that Bronny James' draft stocks are not reliant on mock draft but rather on team interest. His agent, Rich Paul, was quoted saying to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski:

“I don’t value a young player getting into the lottery as much as I do getting him on the right team in the right developmental situation."

With LeBron expressing interest in sharing the court with his son before he retires, it will be interesting to see how things unfold. The 2024 NBA draft is set to take place on June 26 and 27.