NBA legend Gary Payton has opened up on the key advice he had for son Gary Payton II as speculation grows on whether Bronny James will declare for the 2024 Draft.

Bronny, son of Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, has not featured in ESPN’s mock draft since collapsing from cardiac arrest in July last year.

Yet given James’ potential impending free agency and his public desire to play alongside son Bronny one day, the spotlight continues to burn on the USC freshman guard, even as his father implores the basketball world to “let the kid be a kid”.

“These mock drafts [don’t] matter one bit! I promise you that! Only THE WORK matters!!” James wrote on social media last month.

“Can y’all please just let the kid be a kid and enjoy college basketball.”

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Bronny averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 36.6 per cent from the field in his freshman season for the Trojans, hardly the sort of eye-popping numbers that would make him an appealing prospect right now for NBA teams.

And that is the thing — most people seem to understand that Bronny as a player is a work in progress, especially when you consider the medical episode he suffered last year cast doubt over whether he would even play basketball again.

In that sense, there is no rush for Bronny to declare for the draft as he would likely be better suited to spend another year in college to further develop his game.

However, an anonymous Eastern Conference executive still told ESPN’s Jeremy Woo that teams would have interest in drafting Bronny if it meant a shot at landing his father.

“I think everyone is preparing for him to go in the draft, and I’m dead serious — I think a lot of teams will take the stance that they’ll draft him if there’s a 1% chance LeBron will join them,” the executive said.

“So, I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t enter. Will he stay in, I don’t know.”

While Payton II and Bronny aren’t like-for-like comparisons given the impact of LeBron’s potential free agency on the draft conversation, there are still some lessons the Trojans prospect can learn from the Warriors guard and his famous father.

Payton was speaking as he returned to Australia for the first time since the 2000 Olympics, headlining the NBA and TAB’s free ‘Block Party’ event at Hotel Steyne on Manly Beach.

Payton, a NBA champion and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer, was the main attraction on Saturday afternoon as fans flocked for a viewing party to watch the game between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers.

That notoriety though meant something different for Payton II, who had to deal with the added pressure as he tried to step out of the shadow of his famous father, also known as ‘The Glove’ after nine-time All-Defensive team appearances.

Unlike his father, who went second overall, Payton II was undrafted and spent the next six years bouncing between the G League and NBA on five teams before eventually finding his home at Golden State.

Payton II may not have a significant role for the Warriors, averaging 5.1 points and 2.6 rebounds while playing 14.9 minutes this season, but for his father it is more than enough.

All he ever wanted was for him to be his own player — and person.

“I told my son, ‘You can’t be me. I’m the only one Gary Payton. So what you’ve got to do is be yourself, play your own game’… and a lot of kids don’t understand that,” Payton told foxsports.com.au.

“They try to live up to the expectations of their father or somebody else. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be because it doesn’t happen sometimes like that.

“So what I do is and I tell him, ‘Don’t think about being that person. Be next to that person. Hang your picture up next to my picture and hopefully that’ll make you better and solidify how your game is’.

“I think my son has done that in a great way now that he doesn’t think about that. He just plays his game and then he gets his own identity.”