The Warriors are still in the mix for LeBron James, and if they land him, the next move may be even more unusual: figuring out how to bring Bronny James along with him.
NBA reporter Evan Sidery said Golden State, the Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami Heat, and Cleveland Cavaliers are the finalists in James’ offseason sweepstakes. With LeBron’s free agency decision expected any day now, the Warriors are waiting to see whether they can pull off the bigger prize first.
If they do, the path to getting Bronny to the Bay appears to be clearer than it was a few days ago. On July 5, Lakers Nation’s Trevor Lane reported that the likely price for the 21-year-old Lakers guard was a second-round pick. Then on Wednesday, Lakers insider Jovan Buha refined that idea a bit.
“I think you’d probably ask for a second (round pick) and a player you think would fit with the roster, like a minimum-level player,” Buha said. “They could ask for it, (but) I don’t think they’re gonna get a first (round pick) for him. If that’s contingent on landing LeBron, maybe.”
For Golden State, that means a package built around a second-round pick and Brandin Podziemski could be enough to get Bronny out of Los Angeles if the goal is to make LeBron comfortable in his new home. That’s the real calculation here: if James chooses the Warriors, they know the follow-up move may be about more than basketball value alone.
Whether Bronny eventually becomes a player the Warriors can count on in the post Stephen Curry - and maybe post LeBron - era is still too early to say. For now, the appeal is simpler than that: a chance to put father and son in the same locker room for at least one more season.
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Instead, the Lakers went in another direction, adding Walker Kessler and signing Sandro Mamukelashvili while the Dort path disappeared from view. The larger issue is not simply one player leaving the board, but how many of these choices have stacked up for a team still trying to build a defense it can trust when the games tighten. [Read more 🡒]