Bronny James plans to sign multiyear contract with Lakers: Sources

Posted by Admin July 2, 2024 NBA

By Shams Charania, John Hollinger and Hunter Patterson

Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James is planning to sign a standard NBA roster contract with multiple guaranteed seasons, sources confirmed to The Athletic on Tuesday.

James — the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft — will join his father, LeBron, on the Lakers’ roster. Los Angeles also drafted Dalton Knecht with the No. 17 pick and re-signed guard Max Christie to a four-year, $32 million contract. With LeBron’s impending decision to re-sign, the Lakers will have the maximum 15 players with guaranteed contracts.

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This move to sign the younger James limits Los Angeles’ flexibility and all but ensures it will have to make a trade in order to add any new players.

There are a few avenues to acquire new talent. If the Lakers opt to sign a player to a non-taxpayer midlevel exception or minimum contract, they would have to make a trade to create a roster spot or execute a sign-and-trade while sending a player back. Los Angeles could also trade for a player or players under contract with another team, so long as they send out an equal or greater number of players in the deal.

Why the move makes sense

It’s not a shock that the Lakers signed James to a roster contract, even though most late draft picks end up on 2-ways. For tax teams, however, rostering a late pick makes a lot of sense — we saw it with the Warriors’ Trayce Jackson-Davis and the Bucks’ Chris Livingston, the last two picks in the 2023 draft, a year ago. Having their 14th roster spot committed to a player making the rookie minimum minimizes the Lakers’ luxury tax penalty, and gives them roughly a million dollars in extra wiggle room below the first apron, should that become an issue at any point this offseason. — John Hollinger, Senior NBA writer

This story will be updated.