The Los Angeles Lakers are digging their heels in on the Bronny James project.
The Lakers would need to receive a “real” return in order to be willing to trade away Bronny, Khobi Price of The California Post reported Tuesday in an appearance on 97.1 The Fan. Price adds that the Lakers continue to be fans of Bronny and that Bronny has “a lot of supporters in the building.”
Still only 21 years old, Bronny is about to enter his third career season in the NBA. His development has been coming along very slowly in Los Angeles, but some positive signs are there (namely with Bronny’s perimeter defense and his 38.6 percent success rate from three last season).
While Bronny’s father LeBron James is officially moving on from the Lakers, Bronny himself remains in Los Angeles on a fully guaranteed $2.3 million contract for next season. The Lakers also hold a $2.5 million option for the 2027-28 season on Bronny, who is notably on a standard contract rather than a two-way contract.
Some free agent suitors for LeBron have been leaving open a roster spot for Bronny just in case. But it no longer appears to be a foregone conclusion that Bronny will simply be following his father to a new team.
That said, the NBA upside for Bronny (with his career averages of 2.9 points and 1.1 assists per game) is still very limited. It is also unclear where exactly the minutes will be coming from for him on the Lakers next year, especially given that the team just signed a better 3-and-D guard earlier this week.
