NBA All-Star makes bold Bronny James claim: “Top 5 for Rookie of the Year”

Bronny James has shown a huge amount of promise for the South Bay Lakers, averaging 17.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.4 assists in the G-League, with Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick calling the 20-year-old’s rookie season “very productive”.

After being picked 55th in the 2024 NBA draft, it was widely acknowledged the youngster wasn’t ready to play with father LeBron James in the big league. At least not regularly. He has had sporadic opportunities to get some minutes in the NBA, although he has been unable to make much of an impression so far.

However, former Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas believes Bronny would be a top 5 pick for Rookie of the Year if he had played more minutes.

Gilbert Arenas' Bronny James Rookie of the Year argument

The three-time NBA All-Star based his view on the numbers the 20-year-old has put up in his limited appearances, and simple math.

To date, James Jr has played in 18 games for the Lakers this season, averaging 4.2 minutes per appearance. In that time, he has managed 1.4 points, 0.4 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 0.2 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game.

“If they played him 36 minutes [per game], he would be averaging 12 [points], four [rebounds], and four [assists],” Arenas argues on the latest edition of his “Gil’s Arena” podcast. “He’d be top 5 for Rookie of the Year.”

If you don’t have a calculator handy, or you’re high school math is rusty, Arenas got to those approximate numbers by multiplying Bronny’s current output by nine, as 36 minutes is nine lots of four minutes.

Bronny’s small NBA sample size

But is it as simple as that? Skeptics say the few minutes James has played have come almost exclusively in garbage time, when games are already decided and bench players are on the court. Would he be able to reach even his current numbers against the league’s top stars?

Bronny fans, including Arenas, who trained him at the request of his dad, might argue the youngster would improve by regularly playing against better players and may therefore be able to raise his level of performance consistently over time.

We’ll never know, of course, but one thing that is certain is that Bronny James won’t be in the running for Rookie of the Year.

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