Originally published by LakersNation.com
The Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of decisions to make this offseason, and one of them is the contract status of Bronny James. As James heads into the third season of his four-year rookie deal, only $1,258,873 of his $2,296,271 contract was guaranteed. The Lakers had to decide to fully guarantee the deal or waive him by June 29, and they decided on the former as he is still on the roster.
This decision isn’t a huge surprise for the Lakers as waiving James would have only opened up about $1 million in cap space, which they wouldn’t be able to do much with. Free agency is set to get underway on June 30 and the Lakers already have the most cap space in the league.
Continuing to develop the guard into hopefully being a rotation player is the clear course of action for the Lakers here. James showed improvements in his sophomore season, averaging 2.9 points and 1.2 assists while shooting 40.9% from the field and 38.6% from 3-point range in 8.9 minutes across 42 games. He certainly looked more comfortable on the court compared to his rookie year.
Obviously LeBron James’ status is still up in the air, but a return to the Lakers is possible for him as well, which means he would get to team with his son in the NBA for another year. If LeBron does sign elsewhere, and the Golden State Warriors are trying to make it happen, it will be interesting to see if Bronny stays in purple and gold or if they look to trade him to whatever team his dad is on.
The fourth and final year of James’ rookie contract is worth $2.5 million in 2027-28 and the Lakers will have the ability to decline the team option next summer if they so choose.
Bronny James believes he proved growth with Lakers
James didn’t play much during his rookie season with the Lakers but made significant improvements in year two, so much so that he was getting rotation minutes in the playoffs due to injuries to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
James held his own during those minutes and feels he proved something to the world in his second NBA season.
“That I can play at a higher level,” James said after the Lakers were eliminated. “That’s what I wanted to prove over the past couple years and I as able to do that this year more than I was last year. It was a good year for me and I felt good about it.”
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The Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of decisions to make this offseason, and one of them is the contract status of Bronny James. As James heads into the third season of his four-year rookie deal, only $1,258,873 of his $2,296,271 contract was guaranteed. The Lakers had to decide to fully guarantee the deal or waive him by June 29, and they decided on the former as he is still on the roster.
This decision isn’t a huge surprise for the Lakers as waiving James would have only opened up about $1 million in cap space, which they wouldn’t be able to do much with. Free agency is set to get underway on June 30 and the Lakers already have the most cap space in the league.
Continuing to develop the guard into hopefully being a rotation player is the clear course of action for the Lakers here. James showed improvements in his sophomore season, averaging 2.9 points and 1.2 assists while shooting 40.9% from the field and 38.6% from 3-point range in 8.9 minutes across 42 games. He certainly looked more comfortable on the court compared to his rookie year.
Obviously LeBron James’ status is still up in the air, but a return to the Lakers is possible for him as well, which means he would get to team with his son in the NBA for another year. If LeBron does sign elsewhere, and the Golden State Warriors are trying to make it happen, it will be interesting to see if Bronny stays in purple and gold or if they look to trade him to whatever team his dad is on.
The fourth and final year of James’ rookie contract is worth $2.5 million in 2027-28 and the Lakers will have the ability to decline the team option next summer if they so choose.
Bronny James believes he proved growth with Lakers
James didn’t play much during his rookie season with the Lakers but made significant improvements in year two, so much so that he was getting rotation minutes in the playoffs due to injuries to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
James held his own during those minutes and feels he proved something to the world in his second NBA season.
“That I can play at a higher level,” James said after the Lakers were eliminated. “That’s what I wanted to prove over the past couple years and I as able to do that this year more than I was last year. It was a good year for me and I felt good about it.”
If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.
