Los Angeles Lakers All-Star combo forward LeBron James has a $51.4 million player option for the 2024-25 season, which would represent his record-tying 22nd year as a pro. His son, USC Trojans freshman combo guard Bronny James, has declared for the 2024 NBA draft while also maintaining his NCAA eligibility by declaring for the college transfer portal.
LeBron has long expressed an interest in playing alongside his son in the NBA. Now, even though Bronny had a dismal first college season and is barely seen as a draft prospect this season, that could happen as early as 2024-25. So what will LeBron do?
On a recent edition of his essential hoops show The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons explained to his colleague Ryen Russillo why he believes LeBron James could ditch the Lakers to prioritize playing with Bronny.
“My guess is that, if the kid ends up being in the draft, he’s going to want to play with him, and that will trump any other desire he has as a basketball player,” Simmons said.
“This offseason, [his priority is] ‘getting the most money I can, hopefully out of the Lakers, they take care of me the way they took care of Kobe, maybe there’s some sort of option thing on the third year –‘” Russillo began, speculating how James would think about the summer.
“Or second year!” Simmons excitedly floated. Yeah maybe it’s like $100 million for two years but he’s got an opt-out after the first year, and they can rig it that way.”
“I just am looking forward to it because if they are on the same team and they do play together next year, it’ll be the first time we’ve had the country just cheering on nepotism,” Russillo joked.
Of course, the Lakers could always just draft Bronny with their own second round draft pick this year…
