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For much of the 2024-25 NBA season, Bronny James was the biggest story in the league despite playing a grand total of just 27 games and 183 minutes for the Los Angeles Lakers. Los Angeles selected James, the eldest son of superstar LeBron James, in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft despite a single lackluster college season at USC.
The move to draft Bronny, which was driven almost entirely by Lebron, drew criticism across the league and even led to an altercation between LeBron and Stephen A. Smith. But despite the difficult season for Bronny, the undue attention, and the backlash across the league, it now seems that LeBron is ready to make the same mistake again.
.@ShamsCharania says LeBron James is expected to play “at least another NBA season”.
“[Bryce James] is gonna be potentially draft eligible in 2026 … [LeBron’s] got a 54-million dollar player option … He probably opts into that.” 👀 pic.twitter.com/IrdvaCaRms
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 1, 2025
Shams Charania appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday and discussed James’ NBA future and a potential retirement timeline. Charania said that expects James to play at least one more season and likely two, in large part because his youngest son, Bryce, is NBA Draft eligible in 2026.
“The expectation is he’s going to be playing at least another season, but again, how long — and the other thing is does Bryce James, his son, does that factor or play into it at all?” Charania asked.
“His son is going to be potentially draft eligible in 2026, next year, so if he feels that next year Bryce James might be an NBA player, might be a draft-eligible player, does he extend that window? I think that’s the only potential caveat that you’d think of out there that could keep LeBron James at least longer than one more year.”
As we all saw a year ago, LeBron has more than enough power to convince a team to draft his son, even if said son is not an NBA-caliber player. There’s no reason to believe he couldn’t do it again. Hopefully for Bryce, if that time comes, he’s a capable enough player to ward off all the crticism that we’ve seen thrown at Bronny. But that’s a tall order.