Bronny James might finally get to be Bronny James.
The Athletic’s Dan Woike reported Tuesday that Bronny is not expected to follow his father to whatever team LeBron signs with in free agency. He is currently at the Lakers’ veteran minicamp and is expected to compete for backcourt minutes in Los Angeles next season.
Read that again. Bronny, 21 years old, is staying with the Lakers. Without LeBron. As his own player. For the first time in his career.
This is the best thing that could happen to him.
Everyone knows the story. LeBron pushed his way into a father-son NBA moment when the Lakers drafted Bronny in the second round of the 2024 draft. Bronny had a heart scare at USC, played sparingly, and was a well-below-consensus prospect. He got picked because his last name was James. That is not a controversial statement. That is just what happened.
Since then Bronny has been fighting the nepotism narrative every night. Every rotation minute got treated like a family favor. Every G League appearance got framed as a demotion. Every made three got clipped and every miss got dunked on. It has been an impossible spot for a 20-year-old rookie to be in.
Now LeBron is on his way somewhere else. Cleveland, Miami and Philadelphia are the reported focus. Golden State and Minnesota are lurking. Wherever he goes, Bronny is not going with him. That means Los Angeles is going to evaluate Bronny like they evaluate every other young guard on the roster. Not as LeBron’s kid. As a player.
What have they got? A 21-year-old on a fully guaranteed $2.3 million contract for next season. In 42 games with the Lakers last year, Bronny averaged 2.9 points and 1.2 assists on 41/39/86 shooting splits. In 14 G League appearances with South Bay, he put up 15.6 points and 3.7 assists on 56/46/79 splits. That is a real shooting profile.
His defense is above average. His three-point shot is coming around. His playmaking as a secondary guard is solid. If you strip the last name off the jersey, that is a fine second-year rotation piece for a team that needs cheap perimeter depth. The Lakers need cheap perimeter depth.
There was some talk earlier this month that one potential LeBron suitor was saving a roster spot for Bronny to sweeten the deal. That would have been a disaster for the kid. Every basketball conversation would have started and ended with “is he only here because of his dad?” instead of “what can he do?”
Staying in Los Angeles fixes that. He gets the same coaches, same facilities, same G League affiliate. He gets to develop on a team that no longer has to build every timeout around his father’s minutes. He gets to be a role player in the actual NBA sense of the phrase, not the marketing sense.
And if he plays well? Suddenly the conversation flips. Bronny James, second-round pick, hit second-year jump. That is a story the league can get behind. That is a story his teammates can get behind. That is a story his father can watch from wherever he ends up next season.
The Lakers finally treating Bronny like a Laker instead of a James is exactly what he needed. This is the version of this story that could actually work.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
