Tuesday’s NBA debut for Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James has sparked discussions about whether or not the moment was “manufactured.”
Michelle Beadle, for one, wasn’t exactly moved by the moment.
On Wednesday’s edition of the FanDuel TV show Run It Back, which Beadle hosts alongside former NBA stars Lou Williams and Chandler Parsons, Beadle made her stance very clear by saying that she believes the entire day was centered around the “manufactured” moment where Bronny and LeBron James got to check in together in the second quarter.
“This was the big thing, right? The entire day was centered around this manufactured moment of history that we finally got in the second quarter,” said Beadle.
Her co-hosts disagreed on the sentiment.
“I loved it,” said Williams. “Inspiring for me, to say the least. What a dope moment for LeBron and Bronny to share the court. Had me in my feels a little bit. If you are a father out there with a child that follows in your footsteps and you reach the level of opportunity to share the floor with them. It was inspiring to witness. All criticism aside. Everybody has their opinions about whether it was earned.
“At the end of the day, this was done, it was historic. The Lakers won the basketball game. Bronny played three minutes. Didn’t impact the game one way or another. Whether that is good or bad. Didn’t play an impact. It was just a great moment. If anybody out there today has the criticisms of a father, man shame on you. Other than that, this was dope.”
“If Bronny’s debut isn’t manufactured, then I don’t know what the word manufactured means. I am not impressed.” – Michelle Beadle@MichelleDBeadle‘s opinion on Bronny’s debut is quite different than @TeamLou23 and @ChandlerParsons‘ 👀
WE’RE LIVE 📺 https://t.co/CfAwAvgFYZ pic.twitter.com/7yds4Wuvhl
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) October 23, 2024
Parsons largely agreed with Williams, calling it a “picture-perfect” moment.
“Listen, I thought it was incredible. It was exactly what we thought it was gonna be. They got it down early. It wasn’t an end-of-game situation. I loved the fact that they checked in together. That’s a picture-perfect moment that they have forever for their family. If anybody has this kind of juice to get this done, it is LeBron James.
“Do I think this media circus is going to die down completely? No, I think it’s going to now follow him. When is going to be the next time that he is going to play? When is he going to score? Does he go to the G-League immediately? There is always going to be media attention around this because it has never happened before. It’s LeBron James, it’s the Lakers. There are a lot of things that come with that for sure. But I thought it was perfect. He got his moment that will go down in the history books. I thought it was a real special moment.”
Beadle further explained why she thought the moment was “manufactured,” going on to call it “ridiculous.”
“I just want to remind that there was a large and loud contingent of people when Russell Westbrook was chasing the triple-double record when it was sort of stat-padding near the end. And they were like, ‘This is fake history. This is manufactured history,’ she said. “Russell Westbrook made it to the league on his own and did all that by himself. If this isn’t manufactured, I don’t know what the word manufactured means. But again, I am not impressed and I thought this was so ridiculous.”
It’s perhaps not surprising to hear that Beadle doesn’t think much of the moment as she’s previously said that LeBron, among others, played a role in her departure from ESPN.
“Yeah, you know, he’s a powerful dude,” said Beadle of James during an appearance on the Awful Announcing podcast last year. “I mean, there’s no getting around that he is an empire and an entity upon himself. All the respect for building such a powerful entity on a name and doing it well. So yeah, people are going to listen.”
Beadle is not the only one who believes that the Lakers “manufactured” this moment for LeBron and Bronny, as Dan Le Batard also shared this sentiment.
