Welcome to our annual Lakers season in review series, where we’ll look back at each player on the team’s roster this season and evaluate if they should be part of the future of the franchise. Today, we take a look at Bronny James
While seemingly every sports fan across the globe was giving their unique and different take about Bronny James and his spot on the Lakers roster, Bronny was busy working quietly in the background.
Spending much of his first two seasons in the G League, Bronny had brief moments
of flashes of his progress, typically coming in blowouts or on nights when most of the team was out. However, injuries late in the season forced him up the depth chart and into the rotation and, for the first time in his young career, he showed what he could do in meaningful minutes.
It was an encouraging look at a player the Lakers have invested in the last two seasons. The question is, did he show enough for the Lakers to count on him moving forward?
How did he play?
For good portions of the season, Bronny was in the G League and playing well. Across the first 73 games of the Lakers’ season, Bronny played 32 times and averaged only seven minutes per game. Only five of those games saw him play at least 10 minutes, showing how limited he was to garbage time or one rotation at most per game.
A better summary of his season would be his time with South Bay, where he played 14 games. He averaged 15.6 points per game, but shot 56.4% from the field and 45.6% from three. He found his groove over the course of the season and looked a lot like the prospect that had so many scouts excited when he was in high school.
Eventually, injuries in the final month of the season opened the door for him to play meaningful NBA minutes again. Bronny took that confidence he gained in the G League and looked like a different, improved player with the parent Lakers.
His improvements didn’t directly result in big stat lines, but the assuredness and comfort he played with were the most noticeable difference. After looking overwhelmed by the moment too often during his rookie year and the beginning of his second season, Bronny finally looked like he belonged.
That all became really important when Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves went down with injuries and it became an all-hands-on-deck approach entering the playoffs. That included Bronny, who played in the first four games against the Rockets, including a memorable moment with LeBron during Game 3.
Eventually, as the games got more intense and the margin for error slimmed, Bronny fell out of the rotation, but it was an encouraging sign that he could see the floor at all.
Bronny was always going to be a project and the team certainly had to spend quite a bit of time developing him. While the work isn’t done, that they finally started to reap some of those benefits was a great sign this season.
What is the contract situation moving forward?
After two seasons with a full-guaranteed contract, Bronny’s deal is only partially guaranteed for next season. However, it becomes fully guaranteed on June 29 and it seems unlikely the Lakers move him before then.
He’s only on the books for $2.3 million next season and has a fourth season with a team option with a decision not due until late June of 2027.
Should he be back?
It’s not a necessity for Bronny to return, but there are a lot of other players on the roster who should be replaced before him. Bronny is on an affordable deal and showed enough to warrant bringing him back.
No longer is he tied to his father and even if LeBron leaves the Lakers this summer, Bronny has done enough to warrant a spot on this roster next season and, after devoting so much to help him develop, the Lakers should keep him around to see the benefits of all of that.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
