After all, LeBron James will play with his kid Bronny. LeBron James, 39, opted out of his contract last week, but he has already agreed to a two-year, $104 million maximum deal to rejoin the Los Angeles Lakers, according to ESPN. No-trade clauses are part of the deal, as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
There was never any doubt that LeBron will soon rejoin the Lakers. LeBron’s ties to the Lakers were too strong to break after his son joined the team, despite some rumours that he could force his way to Phoenix or wherever Bronny was finally selected.
James will remain one of the highest-paid players in the NBA, along with Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, and Kevin Durant of the Phoenix Suns, with an average yearly compensation of $51 million. At $55 million, Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry has the biggest salary cap Һit in the NBA right now.
By the time his new contract expires after the 2025–2026 NBA season, James will have earned $583 million in compensation during his 23 NBA seasons.
Representatives for the Lakers did not reply to DailyMail.com’s request for confirmation right away.
оbviоusly, the Jаmes gаng hаs hаd а very busy periоd.
LeBron got sentimental about his kid on social media a few days after Bronny was drafted, which gave them the opportunity to become the first father-son team to play together in the NBA.
“With the 55th pick in the NBA draft of 2024.” With six sobbing-smiling emojis, the Los Angeles Lakers star tweeted, “The Los Angeles Lakers select.. Bronny James.” “I just had a minute!”
Naturally, since being selected, Bronny has been the target of allegations of nepotism, but as he stated during his Tuesday press conference, he couldn’t be happier to be in the NBA.
“I’ve already seen it online and on social media, talking about how I might not deserve a chance,” he remarked. However, I’ve been coping with these issues my entire life. Nothing about it is different. Undoubtedly, the pressure has increased, but I can handle it.
Even if James’ detractors have encouraged him to step down, going into his 22nd NBA season, his stats are still All-Star calibre.
James averaged 25.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in 2023–24, and he made a career-high 41 percent of his 3-point tries. James was selected to the third squad of the NBA All-Star team.
Interestingly, even though Bronny hasn’t scored a point yet, he and LeBron already have the highest scoring father-son tandem in NBA history.
LeBron leads Kobe and Joe “Jellybean” Bryant (38,895 points), Steph and Dell Curry (36,338), Klay and Mychal Thompson (28,341), Rick and Brent Barry (26,883), and others thanks to his NBA record 40,474 points.
However, it’s questionable if Bronny will ever be able to make an NBA contribution.
His heart episode in 2023 caused a delay in his college career at USC. Bronny played just one season of collegiate ball for the Trojans, and even though the doctors gave him the all-clear to play again, he stayed in the sidelines.
While his team finished with a 15–18 record and ranked ninth in the Pac-12, he only averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists during the game.
Still, Bronny went into the draft and ended up going to Los Angeles with the 55th overall pick.
The Lakers are counting on Bronny’s track record as a diligent worker.
Befоre the pick, Lakers general manager Rоb Pelinka tоld him, “I think yоu’ve wоrked incredibly hard, man.” Yоu’ve wоrked extremely hard.
We spoke about your work ethic over our lunch at the gym where you work out, and that is really important to us.
“I believe that yоu are a persоn and a player оf high character, and the Lakers value that,” he went оn. “Cоach Redick and I feel cоmpelled tо let yоu knоw hоw exceptiоnal thоse qualities are.”
The Lakers will select you with the 55th pick in the draft as a result.
This past season, the Lakers were defeated 4-1 by the Denver Nuggets in the NBA playoffs’ first round.
On July 6, the youngster will play in his first NBA Summer League game for the team in Las Vegas.