LeBron James is leaving the Los Angeles Lakers.
That doesn’t mean his son, Bronny James, has to.
Bronny is currently under contract for the 2026-27 season with the Lakers for about $2.3 million, and then L.A. has a team option it can exercise for Bronny for the 2027-28 season.
It’s now a familiar environment for Bronny, who will be entering his third NBA season this fall.
Despite the slow but sure growth of Bronny’s game, and his affordable contract, trade rumors will swirl around him this offseason.
Bronny will be thought to get sent to whatever team signs his dad, almost as if it’s a package deal.
But has anyone considered that that’s not what’s best for Bronny?
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Sure, maybe he needed the initial pull of pops to get him into the league at all after a freshman year at USC that never really got off the ground due to cardiac trouble.
There’s now a case to be made, though, that Bronny belongs in the league on his own merits. Maybe not as a starter, but as a player who understands the game and does enough things well to be on a roster.
The last thing he needs is what looks like another case of his dad calling in a favor for him.
He also doesn’t need to go to a new place, a new system, a new coaching staff — not right when he’s starting to figure a few things out in the NBA.
The best thing that can happen for Bronny this offseason is to stay put.
Whether that’s what the James family will decide upon remains to be seen, but there’s no reason to take Bronny out of his current environment.