Before LeBron James made his decision this offseason to join the Philadelphia 76ers, there was plenty of speculation about what might happen with his son Bronny James.
Bronny was still under contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, unlike his father, but that didn’t stop the rumor mill from suggesting that the pair could end up together with a new team.
On the eve of the 2026-27 NBA season, that hasn’t happened yet. LeBron is with the 76ers, and Bronny is with the Lakers.
But there’s still one roster move that has to be made — and if the Lakers moved a certain way, there’d be a path to Bronny ending up in Philadelphia with his pops after all.
How 76ers Could Get Bronny James
The NBA’s roster cutdown deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. ET, and the Lakers still have a spot to clear.
Many have suggested that Dalton Knecht will be the guy who goes, whether that’s by being cut or by being traded.
But there’s one other candidate to be the discarded Lakers player, and that’s Bronny.
If the 76ers had an asset the Lakers wanted, then they could work a small trade for Bronny.
“If I were the Lakers, I’d be trying to trade Bronny right now to some owner who wants to sell some jerseys,” CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn posted on X. “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.”
And if the Lakers simply decided to cut Bronny, then the 76ers could loom as a potential signing destination.
It’s easy to point to the fact that the Lakers drafted Bronny at No. 55 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft as directly tied to his father. And it wouldn’t totally surprise anyone if Bronny somehow ended up on dad’s team again this year.
Does Bronny James Still Have Potential?
If the 76ers were to consider this, it’d have to be about more than LeBron. It’d have to be about whether they believe Bronny could help their roster in the future.
There’s a case to be made that he could. He’s an intriguing defender and athlete.
He’s also nowhere near as big as his dad, and he isn’t a great ball handler, passer or shooter. But his outside shot did take a step forward in his second professional season, and the hope would be that it could keep moving forward.
And yeah, there’d be a lot of attention placed on Bronny if he came to the 76ers — but they already signed LeBron, so the attention was coming either way.
76ers Await Bronny James Decision for Potential Signing, Trade