USC Basketball: Bill Simmons Thinks Bronny James Will Be ‘Major Distraction’ as Lakers Rookie

Does The Ringer's head honcho have a point?

Jul 12, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James (9) competes during the second half against the Houston Rockets at the Thomas & Mack Center. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports / Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports

Former USC Trojans guard-turned-Los Angeles Lakers point guard Bronny James has had a bit of an up-and-down run with the club's Summer League squad. The 6-foot-2 former Trojans reserve, drafted by his father LeBron's team with the No. 55 pick this summer, had four poor initial offensive games across the California Classic and Las Vegas Summer League, but recovered to close out his tenure with a pair of solid scoring performances.

All told, the 19-year-old Sierra Canyon School product averaged 7.0 points on .327/.130/.625 shooting splits, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.8 blocks a night, in 25.2 minutes, across his six healthy contests for the team (James sat out two games).

Read More: USC Basketball: How Scouts Feel About Bronny James' Summer League Run

In a recent episode of his eponymous The Ringer show "The Bill Simmons Podcast," Bill Simmmons posited that the addition of Bronny could prove fairly distracting for Los Angeles in 2024-25.

"The Lakers did not get better in any way [during the offseason]. They have the exact same team they had last year, and LeBron is a year older, and they have a brand-new coach who's never coached before [in JJ Redick]. This Bronny James thing is gonna be a weird wrinkle in the season, I don't think it's gonna be a positive. It's cool that he's going to be able to play with his son, but it's going to be a major distraction this whole season. It just is. And the odds of this team really looking rocky in December and being a panic-trade candidate, I would think they're one of my No. 1's."

LeBron James is the oldest active player in the league, at age 39, but remains one of the NBA's best scorers. Last year, L.A. finished with a 47-35 record and was swiftly eliminated in the first round by the reigning champion Denver Nuggets. Can this year's model do any better? Whether it does or not, it's unlikely that Bronny James will have much of an impact right away.

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