Is there just not enough to get outraged about in the world now?

Is everyone really tapped out on their anger with America’s GoFundMe-reliant health care system, MLB’s blackout policy, the price of paradise and countless other real problems?

It sure seems like it, because in the past few days, there has been outsized outrage at an NBA team using a nearly valueless draft pick on a kid who barely a year ago was a five-star prospect and a McDonald’s All-American as he finished high school.

Yes, according to some, the Los Angeles Lakers selecting Southern Cal freshman Bronny James — son of superstar/literal journeyman LeBron James — with the sixth-to-last pick in the entry draft is the latest sign of what’s wrong with the league.

Now, I’m not going to make the case that Bronny was one of the 60 best players available to be taken because I’m not the Curtis Murayama of the NBA Draft and do not know these players inside and out — but also because it’s irrelevant. What kind of player can an NBA team hope to land with the 55th pick in the draft? Let’s look at who was taken 55th or later in the previous 10 drafts.

Out of nearly 60 players, only two have found their way into NBA rotations — forward Trayce Jackson-Davis of the Golden State Warriors last year and big man Paul Reed of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2020. Both are valuable players, but neither is likely to become a star.

Jackson-Davis is coming off a very solid rookie year in which he averaged 7.9 points and 5.0 rebounds in 16.6 minutes per game. Reed’s numbers have improved each season, to the point where he played nearly 20 minutes per game this season (his fourth) and averaged 7.3 points and 6.0 boards.

But as noted, even such modest outcomes that late in the draft are rare. A team is far more likely to wind up with an Arnoldas Kulboka or a Nigel Williams-Goss. The former was drafted 55th in 2018 and played five scoreless minutes with the Charlotte Hornets in 2021-22 before landing back in Lithuania. The latter was taken in the same spot a year earlier and found his way into 10 games for the Utah Jazz in 2020 (14 career points) after a couple of seasons playing in Serbia and Greece. After his cup of coffee (or perhaps some other beverage) in Salt Lake City, Williams-Goss headed back to Europe, adding stamps for Russia and Spain to his passport.

So that’s the kind of player the Lakers likely passed up to draft the eldest son of the player who led them to the city’s 12th NBA title in the dark days of the 2020 bubble. A player who is arguably the greatest player in league history, and, at the very least, the best NBA player since Michael Jordan. (I specify “best NBA player” to keep the Caitlin Clark fans from taking me to task.)

Given the meager value of the pick, what has got people so angry? Some have called Bronny James a “nepo baby,” a term that has gained popularity the past few years for anyone whose career gets a boost thanks to family connections.

But do Americans care that much about nepotism? One group went to the Supreme Court to get race thrown out as a consideration for college applications but didn’t object to legacy admissions. Heck, less than a decade ago we had a president put his daughter and her husband on his White House staff, even insisting the spouse be allowed security clearance despite the concerns of intelligence officials.

The heart of this outrage, I believe, is that people do not like LeBron James. Whether it’s the way he handled “taking (his) talents to South Beach,” the use of “load management” days that has grown during his time in the league or his willingness to speak his mind on social issues, LeBron is a polarizing figure.

If this involved a more widely liked player such as Giannis or Steph Curry (both of whom have siblings in the league, by the way), I don’t think there would be quite the uproar.

I’ll admit to disliking LeBron after The Decision, but I’m mostly neutral on him since he returned to Cleveland and brought the city its first championship in any sport in I don’t even remember how many years, and I am a supporter of this move. It takes me back to when Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. played together in the Seattle Mariners outfield in 1990.

It’s not a perfect comparison, obviously. Ken Giffey Jr. was a no-doubt prospect when he was drafted No. 1 in 1987, and he went on to become one of the greatest players in MLB history. But Bronny is far from out of place on an NBA roster, and if father and son take the court together, it will be a chickenskin moment.

We can never have too many of those.