So much about LeBron James and his future is unknown or unclear at this stage of his career. However, if James does plan to stick around in the NBA, and in particular with the Los Angeles Lakers, asking them to draft Bryce James is the next logical step.
That is what the crew of NBA Today thought for ESPN. Shams Charania chimed in on the matter during a recent segment on the show.
Charania said, "Bryce James is going to start his freshman year at college. ... How does he look as a prospect? How does he play into the 2026 NBA Draft? These are all things I think LeBron James is going to be open-minded about."
The Lakers already did LeBron one favor by adding Bronny James in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft. Granted, that gamble is working out quite well for them, with Bronny continuing to showcase signs of development.
For LeBron, playing with one son was already pretty untouchable territory for the all-time great. Getting the opportunity to share the court with both would be nearly impossible for a future legend to match.
Bryce James could be the next chapter of LeBron’s Lakers story
There are a few obvious reasons for the Lakers to truly consider making the move, should it be possible and viable. For starters, if Bryce is a quality prospect, that speaks for itself. However, for Rob Pelinka, it could be a means to securing a pay cut from LeBron.
Securing the services of a player who refuses to significantly decline at a discounted cost would mean giving up control over one more selection in the NBA Draft during James' time in Los Angeles. The price may be worth it for a team that wants to contend with Luka Doncic in the immediate future.
LeBron certainly sounded like someone who was not ready to give up his NBA career just yet at Lakers Media Day, leave no hints regarding a potential retirement after the 2025-26 NBA season. Considering James is not one to simply disappear into the middle of the night, it is a safe expectation to believe the NBA's all-time leading scorer has at least one extra campaign in him.
It should be noted that LeBron, himself, joked around not knowing whether him and Bryce would ever share the court. The Lakers superstar touched on that at Media Day.
James said, "I'm not waiting on Bryce. ... I don't know what his timeline is. He's his own young man. ... We'll see what happens this year, next year, but he has his own timeline. I got my timeline and I don't know if they quite match up, but we'll see."
If the two timelines do align, and Bryce proves himself ready to be drafted quickly, there is a lot of sense to be made of the union here. That much will become clearer as the 2025-26 season marches forward.