LeBron James anoints Bronny James the "prince" after NBA draft declaration

This week, Bronny James declared for the NBA draft after entering the NCAA transfer portal. The move comes on the heels of James' freshman year at USC, which generated a ton of interest around the second-generation hooper's future. In the wake of Bronny declaring for the draft, his father, four-time NBA champion LeBron James, took to social media.

Early in the NCAA season, there was quite a bit of talk surrounding where Bronny could go in the NBA draft. While initial projections had him going late in the first round, his stock improved throughout the season thanks to his two-way play.

As a talented defender with playmaking vision that proved to be a difference-maker, Bronny's draft stock rose. Despite that, he was then removed from ESPN's draft board, fueling speculation that he would forego the draft and play another year in college to improve his draft stock.

Now, after Bronny declared for the draft in a post on social media, LeBron James has shared his son's Instagram story. Along with the repost, James included a series of emojis, anointing his son as the prince while also using the high-five emoji, or the prayer hand emoji depending on how you look at it.

As is the nature of Instagram stories, due to the fact that they auto-delete after 24 hours, they can't be embedded. Given that, you can see a screenshot of LeBron James' post below.

@KingJames - Instagram

Looking at Bronny James' freshman year stats after uncertainty about his basketball future

The USC season saw quite a bit of talk among fans and analysts regarding whether Bronny James would declare for the draft. Before that, however, LeBron James' son had his basketball future put into question by a medical scare.

Prior to the start of the USC season, Bronny went into cardiac arrest. The horrific situation unfolded while he was working out, resulting in a hospital stay that saw the NBA community rally around the James family in their time of need.

Of course, because of the medical emergency, there were questions surrounding whether or not Bronny would ever be able to play basketball again. Although details regarding the exact nature of the heart defect weren't disclosed to the public it was revealed that a congenital heart defect was the culprit.

After undergoing a procedure to treat the defect, Bronny James was cleared to return to action and begin his NCAA basketball career. As we look ahead to the NBA draft, let's take a look back at Bronny James' stats over his 25 games played for the USC Trojans:

	MIN	FG%	3P%	REB	AST	BLK	STL	TO	PTS
2023-24	19.4	36.6%	26.7%	2.8	2.1	.2	.8	1.1	4.8

With many calling this NBA draft class one of the least stacked in recent memory, Bronny James could find himeslf as a lottery pick. Of course, this largely will depend on how scouts weigh his long-term future and his ceiling.