Bronny James plans to sign multi-year, guaranteed contract with the Los Angeles Lakers: Report

Bronny will be playing with LeBron, guaranteed.

Bronny James, the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, plans to sign a multi-year guaranteed contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. With this contract, it guarantees that once the 2024-25 season begins, James will be a solidified player on the roster alongside his father, LeBron James.

Typically, players who are selected in the second round have not received guaranteed contracts. They have instead had to compete at a high level at both NBA Summer League and their respective teams’ training camps to even receive a two-way contract.

However, James’ agent, Rich Paul, made it very clear that he would not be signing a two-way contract in an interview with Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes.

“Yes, that’s absolutely true,” Paul said. “Teams know that. I’m not doing that.”

This isn’t the first time that a second-round pick has gotten a guaranteed contract, though. As recently as last year’s draft, Jalen Pickett of the Denver Nuggets, who was picked 32nd, signed a four-year, $8.2 million contract with the Denver Nuggets with $5.8 million guaranteed. Chris Livingston of the Milwaukee Bucks, who was selected with the last pick in the second round of the same draft, signed a four-year, $7.6 million deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, including $3 million guaranteed. Keep in mind, though; Paul was also Livingston’s agent, which speaks to his power within NBA circles.

James is coming off a rather pedestrian freshman year at the University of Southern California statistically. The guard averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.

Despite those numbers, James will get the opportunity to not only develop on the fly with the Los Angeles Lakers and potentially see real minutes early on. He’ll also get to make history as part of the first father-son duo to play together in the NBA.