Bronny James’ expected arrival in Los Angeles may come at the cost of another young player.
Anthony Irwin of Lakers Daily reported Wednesday that the name of Lakers guard Jalen Hood-Schifino has been mentioned in trade talks this summer. Irwin notes that this comes as the Lakers prepare to draft Bronny, the son of LeBron James, at the same position.
The former Indiana star Hood-Schifino is still only 21 but already looks like a major whiff for the Lakers. They drafted him at No. 17 overall in last year’s draft (over Jaime Jaquez Jr, Brandon Podziemski, and Cam Whitmore), only for Hood-Schifino to completely skunk it in his rookie season. He failed to crack the non-garbage time rotation all year and produced a miserable 1.6 points and 0.6 rebounds per game as a result. While the argument could easily be made that the Lakers never really gave him a chance, Hood-Schifino may need a change of scenery to truly develop as a player.
As for Bronny, it seems like a foregone conclusion that the Lakers will select him in this week’s NBA Draft. The wrench in their plans though would be if another team takes Bronny off the board before the Lakers can get to him (such as this interested Western rival).
