After showing promise in his sophomore season, the Lakers will continue investing in Bronny James.
On Monday, the team guaranteed Bronny’s contract for next season, set at $2.3 million, by keeping him on the roster. Keith Smith of Spotrac reported the news on Tuesday.
Naturally, given how LeBron’s free agency is currently playing out, the assumption is to tie the decision on Bronny’s with LeBron. Fans will
certainly race to that conclusion. But Bronny has been his own player and treated as such for quite some time.
The Lakers have spent quite a bit of time developing Bronny. For the first year and a half of his time in LA, Bronny’s playing time with the parent Lakers was either ceremonial minutes with his father, in garbage time or in games where players were being rested en masse.
However, late in his second season, he emerged as an option off the bench amid an injury crisis. He played well enough to see minutes in the postseason and had a memorable moment alongside LeBron in the series against the Rockets.
Even if he was phased out of the rotation as the games started mattering more, it was not just a sign of progress, but the first time Bronny had looked like a rotation-level player.
For the Lakers, it was enough of a sign to keep him around for next season. His contract is now fully guaranteed for the season, meaning he’ll likely be on the roster barring a trade.
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