Now that the Los Angeles Lakers’ season is over, the front office’s top priority is to keep LeBron James in the purple and gold. However, James controls his destiny with a player option, and the early indication is he will opt out to hit free agency, likely signing anew contract with the Lakers.
It is safe to assume that the four-time champion is going to wait and see what general manager Rob Pelinka does to improve the roster first, however. The future Hall of Famer obviously is only in the business of competing for championships and the Lakers will clearly need to make some moves to get to that level.
However, the front office could also go the extra mile by drafting James son Bronny this summer in hopes of pairing the two together in L.A. That has been the case for a while and appears to still be true according to Shams Charania, Jovan Buha and Sam Amick of The Athletic:
What’s more, team sources say the Lakers are very open to the prospect of helping LeBron fulfill his dream of playing with his son Bronny by potentially drafting him.
The potential of drafting Bronny certainly adds an interesting wrinkle into what is set to be an eventful offseason for the Lakers. But the point of contention is whether the team would use their first-round pick to select Bronny or target him in the second round. The Lakers currently own the No. 17 and 55 overall picks.
James was asked about playing with Bronny once again though as the Lakers’ season ended and actually admitted that he has not given this dream scenario a ton of thought and is leaving it up to Bronny as to if he wants to keep his name in the NBA Draft.
“I don’t know,” LeBron said. “I haven’t given it much thought lately. Obviously, I’ve thought about it in the past but then at the end of the day, the kid has to do what he wants to do. I’m not even gonna say kid no more. Young man will decide what he wants to do and how he wants his career to go, so I think just the fact that we are even having that conversation is pretty cool. We’ll see what happens.”
There is a lot to process this summer for the James family and it will be intriguing to see if the selection of Bronny is a make it or break it for the aging star. At the end of the day, Pelinka admitted he is committed to upholding LeBron’s legacy and he may need to go above and beyond to keep him around.
Bronny James more focused on draft process than transfer portal
When Bronny declared for the 2024 NBA Draft, he said that he is keeping his college eligibility and entering the transfer portal. However, recent rumors state that the 19-year-old is more focused on the draft process than deciding where to possibly continue his college career.
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