Rich Paul crushes Suns' dream of luring LeBron by drafting Bronny

Despite needing NBA-ready rookies, the Phoenix Suns decided to hold two workouts for Bronny James with the implication that he could bring his father on a minimum deal this offseason. This idea has been thrown out of the door by Rich Paul, who represents both clients.

According to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, Paul told the outlet that LeBron James will not be "going to Phoenix" on "a minimum deal" with the idea being the franchise would draft James' son Bronny with their 22nd overall pick.

"LeBron is off this idea of having to play with Bronny," Paul told ESPN. "If he does, he does. But if he doesn't, he doesn't. There's no deal made that it's guaranteed that if the Lakers draft Bronny at 55, he [LeBron] will re-sign. If that was the case, I would force them to take him at 17. We don't need leverage. The Lakers can draft Bronny and LeBron doesn't re-sign. LeBron is also not going to Phoenix for a minimum deal. We can squash that now."

Bronny will likely be selected at the rear end of this season's draft class as the youngster suffered a health scare before the start of the season. The younger James averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game on a poor 36 percent shooting. The former student-athlete only appeared in 25 games for the USC Trojans with his main bright spot being defensive potential.

For what has seemed like years, the older James signaled his desire to play with his son even saying so in the past. The former Cav is a free agent with teams battling for his services this summer. LeBron comes off a season where he averaged 25.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per game on 54 percent shooting for the Lakers, presumably at the forefront of the quest for his services.

Even though the star is the oldest veteran in the league at 39 years old, it's fair to say that the older James is still a top-ten star in this league (even with the fact that he will usually miss some part of the season with an injury). The older James' continued stardom has led some teams to think about drafting the younger James to recruit his father to their squad on a minimum deal.

Rich Paul says flat-out no to the Suns' drafting of Bronny James to sign LeBron James

Honestly, unlinking (basketball-wise, of course) both James from each other is the best thing that can be done for the younger James career. Before this implication by his agent, it was not too dumb to consider drafting Bronny in the early part of the second round. with that selection luring the older James to said franchise.

After saying this, teams may back off a bit on their Bronny chase since it no longer brings the reward of LeBron. From a pure basketball perspective, being drafted because the team wants your father is probably not good for your basketball development.

The younger James can have a long career in the NBA but he will have to overcome the year of development he missed due to the health scare he suffered last season. He likely can't do this on a franchise that only wants him because he is the son of an NBA legend.

Yes, teams can still waste a somewhat useless second-round pick on the younger James in hopes of acquiring the older James but a threat from an agent that represents tons of high-profile NBA clients puts your entire career into jeopardy even if you win the title in the next year or two.

While teams might try to schedule Bronny draft workouts to sign the older James to the team, it's clear that this will be a fool's errand for any squad.