The NBA's Dangerous Slippery Slope With Bronny James

NBA: Los Angeles Lakers at Cleveland Cavaliers — Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

In case you haven’t heard, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has been getting the chance to play alongside his son Bronny this season.

Bronny James scored his first NBA points on Wednesday in a 134-110 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, finishing with two in five minutes of action. It marked his second appearance of the season after he logged three minutes in a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Opening Night.

Against Minnesota, LeBron and Bronny became the first father-son duo to ever play in an NBA game. Then, in Cleveland, Bronny James had the chance to play about 40 miles north Akron, Ohio, where he was born.

With Cleveland being a place Bronny James called home — and got to see his dad play throughout his childhood — it was almost a given that he was going to see the floor on Wednesday night, regardless of what the scoreboard said.

People like to joke around and say that the NBA is scripted, and while that isn’t the case (we hope), thrusting Bronny James into the spotlight solely for the purpose of headlines is about as close to a script as we’re going to get.

Nothing has been organic about Bronny James’ rise to the NBA or his two games in the league. Cool story? Sure. But it’s one that didn’t happen naturally.

It also begs the question, just how far will teams go to get that next big story? Even worse, what would the league be willing to do to get more eyes on the game?

There was eventually going to come a day when a father and son played alongside each other and both parties deserved that opportunity. This wasn’t it.

If this is just the tip of the iceberg, we’re in some serious trouble.