Bronny James landed a large cope with the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, signing a four-year contract price a whopping $7.9 million—a determine that appears to overvalue him relative to his draft place.
The shiny new contract for James, 19, was introduced simply hours after the Lakers revealed they’d struck a cope with his celebrity dad, 39-year-old LeBron James, that may see him make the league most wage of $104 million this season.
Whereas the James household is certain to be celebrating Wednesday evening, it’s unimaginable to disregard that the youthful James’ payday possible has all the things to do together with his dad’s stardom and never his personal basketball resume.
Bronny was chosen at No. 55 total in final week’s draft. That’s considerably greater than most had the starlet going, together with his restricted basketball résumé—having not performed a full NCAA season and coming off the bench when he did function—holding him again within the eyes of most.
Now, the youthful James is slated to make $1.1 million this season, $1.9 million the following, and $2.3 million and $2.4 million within the closing two years of his contract, with the primary three years being assured cash. That’s a stark distinction to NBA rookies drafted with the identical decide in recent times.
Final 12 months’s No. 55 decide, Isaiah Wong, struck a one-year, two-way cope with the Indiana Pacers that’d web him, at most, just below $600,000. The identical decide in 2022 was Gui Santos, who struck a three-year cope with the Golden State Warriors price as much as $5.1 million, however solely a fifth of that cash was assured.
Nonetheless, even these exterior the NBA orbit know that Bronny is way from a typical second-round decide. He’ll guarantee his dad will get to meet his longtime dream of enjoying within the league with him, and Wednesday’s offers primarily verify they’ll quickly turn out to be the primary father-son duo to play within the NBA concurrently.
LeBron, who’s arguably the best participant in historical past, turned the primary individual to make 20 All-Star groups final season, eclipsing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He additionally holds the NBA file for profession common season factors (40,474), whereas his 20 All-NBA picks and 13 first-team All-NBA picks are additionally unmatched within the sport. He’ll flip 40 in December.
“It’s for certain amplified the quantity of strain,” Bronny James stated Tuesday of enjoying together with his dad. “I’ve already seen it in (social) media and on the web and stuff speaking about (how) I won’t deserve a chance. However I’ve been coping with stuff like this for my entire life. It’s nothing completely different. It’s extra amplified for certain, however I can get by way of it.”