Rich Paul, the agent of Bronny Jameshad been clear at the time of the Draft. He had threatened other teams interested in LeBron James' son to make him play in Australia. The goal of the maneuver? To avoid a ” two-way contract ” with a future more in the G-League than in the NBA. Thus, at the Lakers, Bronny James, not content with reuniting with his father, also signed a four-year contract.
But two weeks after his arrival in the league, and while he is on the courts of the Summer League, the former USC player does not rule out the idea of joining the league's antechamber. “I can’t wait to play basketball, no matter what level I play at.”, he confides after the game against the Rockets in Las Vegas.
Everyone is logically waiting to see Bronny James play for the Lakers with his father, for a historic moment in the NBA. But the young player's first performances in the summer league show that there is still a way to go for him to establish himself among the big boys.
After three summer league games, two at the California Classic and one in Las Vegas, he's very, very clumsy with a nasty 6/26 shooting, including 0/12 on 3-pointers… “I'm a bit down at the moment”he can only concede.
“He will have a long career, this is just the beginning. We must continue to instill confidence in him,” reassures Dane Johnson, the Lakers coach in Summer League, who confirms a potential move to the G-League, where he is also a coach for the Californian franchise. “I don't know yet what's next so I can't really comment, but I think the guys, the players that are drafted, will go to the G-League at some point.”
Two-way contract : Designed to create a new bridge between the NBA and the G-League, this type of contract allows each team to secure the services of two or three additional players, to have them play mainly in their affiliated development league franchise but also up to 50 matches in the NBA.
