Bronny James Offers Intriguing Outlook on Role With New-Look Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are heading into a new era, and they’re doing it about as aggressively as it can be done, moving on from LeBron James and completely overhauling the roster around stars Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.

With LeBron now set to suit up for the Philadelphia 76ers, there have been a lot of questions about what the future holds for third-year guard Bronny James, as he’ll be playing his first season in the NBA without his father by his side in Los Angeles.

Bronny James Focused on Improving ‘Across the Board’

Although there’s still a chance that the Lakers either trade or waive Bronny before the start of the 2026-27 NBA season, with the team needing to get down to the maximum of 15 players, the USC product is solely focused on improving his game across the board, via ESPN Los Angeles.

Bronny James on his upcoming role this season and what he’s improved on this summer.

"all across the board. I’m trying to get better, playing with Luka and AR still, so I’m gonna be off-ball when it’s needed. I need to be able to knock down shots and create for others, and I… pic.twitter.com/bZdLYNK5JX
— MAL (@MindOfBron) September 4, 2026

“I'm all across the board, I'm trying to get better,” Bronny James said. “I'm playing with Luka and AR still, so I'm going to be, you know, off-ball when it's needed. I need to be able to knock down shots and create for others. And I think I've been doing a good job with that this summer.”

The soon-to-be 22-year-old guard gave some insight on how he sees his role heading into his third season with the Lakers.

He seems to be up for anything at this point, as he’ll embrace being a secondary ball handler and is willing to do “whatever is needed” to help the team during the 2026-27 campaign.

“I feel like I can be a secondary ball handler to Luka [Doncic] and AR and generate, whatever offense and catching shoots and pick-and-roll offense and stuff like that,” Bronny James said. “I just pride myself in being an all-around player and whatever is needed, I'm up for it.”

The Lakers currently have 16 players with guaranteed contracts on the squad, meaning one player will have to go before the start of the season on Oct. 5, when the team hosts Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena.

Bronny James is very much on the roster bubble, along with a few other players like Dalton Knecht, Jaden Hardy, Jarred Vanderbilt and Jake LaRavia. All of these players have been mentioned in trade rumors or as cut candidates, so they’re definitely on shaky ground with less than a month to go before tipoff.

Bronny James on playing with former high school teammate Ziaire Williams, the Lakers’ new additions and whether their offseason work will translate

“I agree. That’s the first step, meeting new people, and you gotta work with them for the rest of the year. So I think it’s good… pic.twitter.com/1SZ6YZuN3F
— MAL (@MindOfBron) September 4, 2026

Despite all the speculation, Bronny is enjoying his new teammates and believes the minicamp in Slovenia recently was a step in the right direction for the new-look Lakers.

“Everyone's great,” Bronny James said of his new Lakers teammates. “We've been in the gym working. There's good vibes everywhere. I think that, again, the Slovenian trip helped, because we got back home, we got to work, and it's coming around.”

It’ll be interesting to see what the Lakers brass decides to do to get down to 15 players, as the deadline for that decision is fast approaching.

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