Seven games into the season for the Los Angeles Lakers, third-year guard Bronny James has played a total of ten minutes and scored just two points. The son of LeBron James was expected to play a bigger role with the team this season, but with just three appearances for the Lakers so far this year, buzz about a potential trade, roster cut, or G League demotion has only grown for the young player still looking to find his footing in the NBA.
In the two previous years of his career, James had seen more playing time, points, and an overall more positive outlook on his position in the Lakers’ rotation this year. Now, with just ten total minutes on the year so far, things are looking bad for the 22-year-old reserve guard.
While the Lakers could attempt to trade James to a team that might see him as having higher value, in reality, a move to waive him to bring in a new big man or sending him back down to the G League might be more realistic.
But regardless of what happens, none of the latest buzz is good news for James.
Bronny James Gets Concerning News Amid Demotion Buzz
Amid his abysmal start, which differs from the first two seasons of his career, the Lakers were recently urged to send James back to the G League, where he’s spent a ton of time since getting picked 54th overall in the 2024 NBA Draft.
“The Los Angeles Lakers need to send Bronny James down to the Coachella Valley Lakers to get on-court minutes and reps in the G League,” Tyler Watts wrote. “There have been opportunities when players have missed time, but Bronny is buried at the end of the bench. It is time to send him down with the G League season kicking off on Nov. 6.”
James has been solid in his G League stints over the past two seasons.
While three appearances through the Lakers’ first seven games is roughly the same playing time he saw in his rookie year, it’s a change of pace from his sophomore season, as by this time he’d already seen nearly triple the playing time on a deeper roster.
James has only scored two points so far this season, in a year in which he had a chance to become a rotational guard under head coach JJ Redick. As he’s spent a majority of this season on the bench, the Lakers have an impending decision to make.
“The Lakers should send Bronny down to figure out where he plays on offense. He struggled as the primary creator on the floor in the preseason. James needs reps as the point guard if that is where Los Angeles wants to play him long-term,” Watts added. “The franchise needs to figure out if Bronny is a long-term piece. They should try him as a point guard and on-ball creator. If James struggles, transition him into an on-ball role. The Lakers won’t know until they give him reps and see what he can do. The only way he gets those opportunities is in the G League.”
The writer continued to discuss the relatively obvious reasons how and why James needs to improve his game to become a consistent contributor with the Lakers, and why the G League might be the best way to do it.
However, though a demotion might be the best way for James to continue his career playing in the Purple and Gold, it’s not the only option the team has to fix the current problem, as over the past few weeks, either a trade or roster cut has been floated as other ways to bring in someone new to take his place.
Lakers Could Trade Bronny James For Roster Upgrade
James was a candidate to be waived over the summer, as the Lakers could only keep two of the three in a group of him, Jaden Hardy, and Dalton Knecht.
But while his job was saved and Los Angeles chose to cut ties with Knecht, it brought up some questions about how James fits within this current roster, especially considering the holes in the starting forward and backup center positions.
As team insider Jovan Buha has continuously discussed, if the Lakers are serious about making a move to upgrade the roster, it’s clear James is sitting on the chopping block.
“Whatever they decide, I think something has to happen soon because they can’t keep playing this current rotation,” he said on his show, Buha’s Block. “Then it’s Hardy or Bronny. And then I think they’re gonna try to flip Hardy. So Bronny is the one who’s only making a couple million that they could potentially waive.”
“I think the back three guys on the roster, which are [Kevon] Looney, Bronny [James], and Hardy, any of those three, in my opinion, are worth potentially waiving,” Buha added.
Additionally, a Lakers’ James trade can’t be ruled out, either. It’s clear he doesn’t have a ton of value on his current team, but as one NBA reporter recently proposed, the son of the league’s all-time leading scorer could have higher value somewhere else.
“If I were the Lakers, I’d be trying to trade Bronny right now to some owner who wants to sell some jerseys. I’d rather keep Knecht on the books as possible trade salary than cut him and deal with dead money. The Lakers don’t really need the James brand like other teams do,” CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn wrote on X after the Lakers kept James over Knecht before the season.
“Just hasn’t reached the point of offensive viability through two years, and the defensive threshold is just so freaking high at that size that if he’s never gonna make shots, he basically has to be a Jamal Shead-level pest to even justify a roster spot and he isn’t.”
For now, James remains on the Lakers roster, but amid his lack of playing time, a decision on what comes next for his career feels like it’s coming soon. The G League might be best for the player, but as it relates to the team, perhaps trading or waiving the highly scrutinized player might be best if Rob Pelinka, Redick, and the rest of the decision-makers want to get the most out of the time they have with Luka Doncic playing at an MVP caliber.
Lakers Bronny James Dealt Bad News As Trade, Roster Decision Looms