When one of the league's marquee franchises struggles, suddenly everyone wants to discuss trade rumors and speculation. The A block of "First Take" is not dominated by whether the Indiana Pacers need to make a trade after their slow start to the season; instead, it's always the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers are certainly struggling, no doubt about it. They have the point differential of a 9-15 team and LeBron James is starting to look old (and by that we mean like a basketball player 5 years younger than he actually is). Anytime the Lakers stumble, questions about whether or not LeBron James will be traded resurface.
It's not that those questions are illegitimate, either. Stars ask out of losing situations all of the time, and just this past February the Golden State Warriors were legitimately asking the Lakers about the possibility of a LeBron James trade. It's a relevant topic.
Every sports talk show and mainstream media outlet this week was discussing the latest rumors of a LeBron James trade request. We heard about whether LeBron wanted a trade, whether the Los Angeles Lakers would trade him if he did, and whether the Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry wanted to be the team to trade for him.
It was ratings bingo for ESPN and others, as any drama relating to the Lakers is an undeniable treat. Yet perhaps lost in the bustle and fire of yet another LeBron James rumor mill is that Bronny James is once again likely to have his future decided for him.
LeBron is calling the shots for Bronny
It is a difficult thing to live in the shadow of a parents' celebrity, but it has to be even harder to follow in their footsteps into the same profession. Do doors open because of your own accomplishments, or because of your famous parent?
Take that reality and dial it up to a '10' for the James family. It's extremely hard to tell for sure, but it certainly seems that LeBron's desires for his son dictated much of the past year for Bronny. It's clear that Bronny declared for the draft and was drafted by the Lakers because he is LeBron's son; otherwise, he would not have had the pedigree to be drafted, or if he was there's no reason to think the Lakers would have been the team to draft him.
What we don't know is whether this was what Bronny wanted. Did he prefer to start his NBA career, or would he have rather stayed in college? Did he want to play for the Los Angeles Lakers, constantly in his father's shadow, or find his own way? Did he want to be a sideshow, with opposing crowds chanting for him not because he has played well or earned anything but because he shares a name with the greatest player of all time?
One of the primary obstacles to LeBron James asking for a trade away from the Lakers is that he was clearly the impetus for Bronny being drafted and signed to a full roster contract. Would he really ask to be traded to another team and leave behind his son?
The answer is no, because LeBron doesn't have to leave Bronny behind. Anthony Irwin of Clutch Sports reported that the Lakers are not actively shopping LeBron James, but that if he came and requested a trade they would work with him to find the right destination.
What's more, they would be open to trading Bronny James as well. Which makes perfect sense; the Lakers have a multi-year contract on the books because of LeBron, not because Bronny James is the next second-round steal. That doesn't mean Bronny can't develop into a solid NBA player, but that the Lakers have no true reason to tie up a roster spot on Bronny if LeBron is leaving town.
Bronny's salary is low enough to be included rather easily in a trade, and most teams trading for LeBron James would be aggregating multiple salaries together, thus opening up a roster spot for Bronny to land in. It's unlikely any other team would balk at "paying the cost" of having Bronny on their roster if it means getting LeBron James. If LeBron wants his son to come with him, he likely will.
Is that what Bronny wants? We obviously don't know, both because this entire concept is speculation and because Bronny hardly ever is allowed to speak for himself. It's very possible that he would wish to stay with the Lakers, playing close to home and for one of the most storied franchises in NBA history.
That decision is probably out of his hands, just like he presumably had very little input on whether he was going to the Lakers in the first place. Going along with his dad is a cool father-son moment, but he may be ready to blaze his own trail. That's likely not in the cards.
Once again, Bronny James is just along for the ride. As he rightfully did when Bronny was a child, father LeBron is once again calling the shots. It's possible that Bronny only has an NBA career because of his father, and it's likely that the teams that he plays for -- at least until LeBron James Sr. retires -- will be decided by his father as well.