There are normally 60 players picked in the NBA Draft each year, and when the Los Angeles Lakers selected Bronny James out of USC in 2024, I thought “he’s not a top-60 player…in the Pac-12.”
We all know why the purple and gold took him late in the second round that June. It was to appease his father, LeBron James, who very well may have left L.A. if he couldn’t play with his son.
The move was relatively low-risk for the Lakers, who picked Bronny 55th overall. It’s rare that someone selected that late makes any meaningful contribution to his team. But now LeBron is in Philly, which begs the question: Why is Bronny still in the NBA?
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James is not like Shedeur Sanders — who’s at least serviceable despite his name outshining his game. He’d likely be in his sport’s top league regardless of who his father was. Bronny, on the other hand, would be lucky to play in Europe.
Let’s take a look at the third-year Laker’s stats.
In the 27 games Bronny played in his first NBA season, he averaged 2.3 points and 6.7 minutes (almost all garbage time) while shooting 31.3% from the field and 28.1% from deep. Keep in mind that these blatantly inefficient numbers came primarily against other NBA scrubs.
In the 42 games he played in his second season, Bronny averaged 2.9 points and 8.9 minutes while shooting 40.9% from the field and 38.6% from three. Yes, those numbers represented a modest improvement, but the sample size is so small and the competition so suspect that it’s hard to judge whether he made strides toward becoming a legitimate NBA contributor.
Perhaps the better place to look is Bronny’s production in the G League — the NBA’s developmental league — where James got considerably more playing time per game.
In the 18 G League contests Bronny played in the 2024-25 season, he averaged 18.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 31.4 minutes while shooting 41.5 percent from the field and 33.6 percent from deep. Not great. In the 20 G League games he played last season, he averaged 13.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 29.5 minutes while shooting 50.2 percent from the field and 37.6 percent from deep. Scoring, boards and dimes were all down, although his shooting accuracy improved. But Bronny’s Player Efficiency Rating of 12.9? It ranked 330th among qualified players in the freakin’ G League.
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This is basically the equivalent of the White Sox looking at Michael Jordan’s .202 batting average in Double-A and saying, “Time to bring him up to The Show!” There is no world in which a G-Leaguer can be so underwhelming and keep getting NBA call-ups without a heaping helping of nepotism.
But now that LeBron is three time zones away from his firstborn, it’s time for the Lakers to cut ties with Bronny for good. He’s simply not an NBA-caliber player.
Yes, Bronny is making approximately $2.3 million this season on a guaranteed contract, meaning the Lakers would still owe him that money if they waived him. But cutting him would free up a roster spot for someone who might actually help the team win.
Oddly enough, the Lakers already waived another member of the 2024 draft class — 17th overall pick Dalton Knecht. And Knecht has actually produced in the NBA, averaging 7.1 points on 46.0 percent shooting while playing meaningful minutes over 132 games in L.A.
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He isn’t a star, and he made more money than Bronny. But unlike LeBron’s son, he actually contributed to the Lakers. So why was Knecht — who has since made the Knicks’ roster — the one shown the door?
Maybe the Lakers see something in Bronny — who’s averaging 0.8 points through five games this year — that the numbers don’t reveal. Maybe they simply don’t want to pay him to play somewhere else. Or maybe they’re still worried about upsetting LeBron, even with the four-time MVP 3,000 miles away. Whatever the explanation, I haven’t seen anything suggesting Bronny deserves an NBA roster spot. And though it’s tempting to feel sorry for a man forever overshadowed by his generationally talented dad, that sympathy is starting to wane.
Despite accomplishing next to nothing beyond high school (he averaged 4.8 points per game at USC), Bronny has earned millions of dollars. And last weekend, he wasn’t shy about flexing his financial muscle.
In response to a heckling Pistons fan at Little Caesars Arena, Bronny said, “How much money you make a year?”
Well, considering she was sitting near courtside, her answer could have been “a lot more than you if not for your old man.”