As the Los Angeles Lakers continue to sift through their offseason points of emphasis, the chatter around Bronny James still hasn’t tapered off.
The 21-year-old guard, who is entering his third season, has been a subject of NBA trade rumors since the very moment his father informed the Lakers he wasn’t going to return to the franchise to play a ninth season. James’ father has been a Philadelphia 76er for nearly two months now, but many continue to wonder if the Jameses are destined to reunite.
A former second round pick, James has a guaranteed contract for the 2026-27 season, which would typically be enough to secure him from all trade speculation for at least one more year. But with the Lakers needing to trim their roster and, quite frankly, with them still needing reinforcements at two major areas on the roster, it isn’t surprising to see James mentioned as a potential trade or cut candidate.
Bronny James’ Lakers Future: So, What’s Up?
L.A. has 16 players on its standard roster, meaning the team needs to drop one player to become compliant with league rules. So, unless the Lakers make a trade, who is poised to be the odd man out?
According to Lakers analyst Trevor Lane, it likely isn’t James.
“Could the Lakers move on from Bronny James? He’s got a team-option next year, so you would just decline that team-option, you could waive him. That would result in about $2.3 million in dead money sitting in your books. Not the end of the word; that would be just for this season. … That said, Bronny was actually fairly good last season. Quietly, he shot 39 percent from 3, last year Bronny did.”
Added Lane: “Will he ultimately become an NBA rotation-level player? We don’t know that for sure. I will say that he has improved a ton since he came into the NBA. I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that just because LeBron is no longer a Laker, that Bronny is the guy that’s going to get cut. And let’s also remember the Lakers did guarantee the half-portion of his salary that was non-guaranteed this summer. So they clearly decided that he is at least worth guaranteeing about half of salary in order to hang on to him.
The More Likely Candidates
Lane did acknowledge that while James could get cut, the Lakers have, so far, given many indications that they are prepared to move ahead with the 21-year-old as one of their developing young assets.
The same cannot be said for someone like Dalton Knecht, who entered the NBA with far more expectations than James.
Lane mentioned Jake LaRavia and Jaden Hardy as players who could be on the chopping block but argued that waiving either player wouldn’t be in the Lakers’ best interest because of their contract situation.
LaRavia and Hardy, both 24, are on expiring $6 million deals, making them potentially attractive salary-fillers in a trade that could deliver the Lakers an impact player.
Meanwhile, as Lane noted, the Lakers have until the end of October to decide if they want to pick up Knecht’s team-option. Lane doesn’t believe the Lakers will do so, saying it is likely L.A. will end up cutting ties with Knecht, unless the 25-year-old former first round pick particularly excels in preseason and in the first week of the regular season.
Bronny James Gets New Word on Lakers Future as Major Cut Decision Expected