On Tuesday night, the big talking point of the NBA summer resolved itself – LeBron James played on the same court as his son Bronny.

“Play” is an artificial term here. James pere played. James Fils briefly took up space.

Bronny put up the kind of stats for the Los Angeles Lakers that he managed all preseason: three minutes, two shots, no points and no assists. Had it not been for a gentle rebound, it's fair to say you would have done just as well.

The problem with Bronny James isn't that he's not good enough to be in the NBA – which he isn't.

In every league there are people who aren't good enough to be there but are. Maybe because the trainer likes them, or because they are long past their best before date. The trick is to be accessible.

Bronny James is a likeable person in every way. Sure, he's a moron compared to his father, he wasn't good enough to play for his college team and suffered cardiac arrest a little over a year ago.

But what now? For a few people to be really good, someone has to be a little bit evil. Why not him?

Bronny could be out there with an eye patch and on crutches and it wouldn't be much different than watching former Raptor Oliver Miller play full-court defense.

No, the problem with Bronny isn't skill. It's shamelessness.

Until now, athletes still claimed that professional sports were a performance society. After Bronny, only a very naive person or an NBA employee could believe that.

Sport has never been meritocratic. It has always been meritocratic.

The ideal works at the highest level. Jackie Robinson didn't break the modern color barrier because times have changed. He did this because his talent was undeniable.

If you have something special, nothing else about you matters. Short, stocky, slack-jawed, loud-mouthed? Everything is surmountable as long as you really get the curveball under control.

Sports is the only workplace where the lie we tell kids – “You can be whatever you want to be” – is true. Everywhere else you can be whatever someone in charge allows you to be.

But if the sport is perfectly fair at the top, it becomes less so as you get closer to the bottom.

Wayne Gretzky's son was drafted by the Chicago Cubs. His minor league baseball career didn't go far. Now he is an actor/producer. Something tells me that this career advancement might not have been as smooth if his last name had been Smith.

This evasive maneuver passes without comment because sometimes it works. Mike Piazza was taken 1,390th in the 1988 baseball draft. Place because Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda credited his father for a solid performance. Piazza was later named to the Hall of Fame.

This is not about ethics, which hardly exists in professional sports. It's proportion. Where nepotism or favoritism exists, it happens on a small scale. All real rewards depend on performance. Whatever deal was made is done quietly.

Then LeBron James comes along and reports his own fraud. James has been talking about how he wants to play with his son for years. (Translation: I'll only go to a team that promises to make this happen.)

The Lakers were happy to trade the increase in jersey sales and an NBA title for a small roster adjustment. The rest of the NBA cleared a path so Bronny was still available with the 55th pick.

Why didn't another team draft Bronny, either forcing his father to make a difficult decision or forcing the Lakers to give up a player who was truly valuable to him? Because that’s not how corrections work.

If the goal had been to stay even the slightest bit on the down low, Bronny would have been sent straight to the G League. Think of all the thumb-sucking things that could have been written about a hard-working young man trying to do right.

But no. After agreeing to a deal, the Jameses didn't want to wait for the payout. If I were her, I would probably expect the same thing.

It's not a problem for a child to get a huge leg up. It's all the other people who have their feet in the air.

What could Lionel Messi do if LeBron James can take his semi-talented son to the top basketball league in the world? If Messi wants his brother on his Major League Soccer team, people in this league will fall over themselves and say what a great idea that is.

What if he wants his own child on the team? And the kid is still in high school? Or does he want two children?

Stars are always looking for new opportunities to express themselves. Teams are asked to offer all sorts of extracurricular activities to prove their love.

What if the new Flex brings a goofball you went to high school with into the New York Yankees starting lineup?

Money no longer means much to sports franchises. But her dignity? This is something they won't sell cheaply. This is something they would only leave to the truly exceptional player.

Would the Yankees sign a son or cousin for Gerrit Cole or Aaron Judge? Absolutely not. They are both under contract. But for soon-to-be free agent Juan Soto? Perhaps.

Until now, only a few athletes would have thought to try it. No star would go to such lengths to avoid appearing ridiculous. Why ask for something you know you can't have?

LeBron and Bronny James just proved you can have it. And not just have. But be celebrated for having the nerve to ask. James' father and son have set the bar for sporting superstars.

From now on, you'll never know how great you were until you asked for something no team wanted to give you and got it anyway.