Bronny James has garnered a lot of attention during his rookie season in the NBA. After being selected No. 55 overall in the 2024 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers, James' daily activities have lived under a microscope, having every one of his moves over-analyzed. This burden seems to have come with the territory of being the son of future Hall of Famer, LeBron James.
James, has also been at the epicenter of a recent controversy when his father confronted media personality, Stephen A. Smith, earlier this month during a Lakers game.
James has split his rookie season between the Lakers and their G-League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers. He has played sparingly with the Lakers, appearing in 18 games in the NBA. James is averaging just 1.4 points, 0.4 rebounds, and 0.4 assists per game in 4.2 minutes per game in those games.
Despite his limited minutes at the NBA level this season, Gilbert Arenas took to his own show earlier this week, "Gil's Arena", to make a bold claim about how high James' potential ceiling could be at the NBA level, if he were to receive starter's minutes.
"If [Bronny James] played 36mpg he'd average 12ppg, 4rpg & 4apg. He'd be Top 5 for Rookie of the Year!"
Gil and Rashad go at it over Bronny's potential in the NBA pic.twitter.com/oD8yrQhQFZ
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) March 11, 2025
"If they (the Lakers) played him 36 (minutes), he'd be averaging 12 (points), four (rebounds), and four (assists). He'd be top-five for Rookie of the Year," Arenas said.
Arenas' claim sparked a heated debate between himself and former NBA player, Rashad McCants. Arenas continued to argue James has the potential to play well if given the opportunity, while McCants believes James is only on the Lakers to boost ratings and increase revenue at the behest of James' father.
Arenas and McCants' debate has gone viral, reaching 2.1 million views on X, as of Thursday morning.
The current Kia Rookie Ladder features Stephon Castle (San Antonio Spurs), Jaylen Wells (Memphis Grizzlies), and Zaccharie Risacher (Atlanta Hawks) in the top-three rankings for rookies on the season.
In James' 16 G League games (seven Tip-Off Tournament and nine regular season), he's averaging 17.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists. Earlier this week, the Lakers announced that James will be recalled and travel with the team when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks, on the road, on Thursday night.
Related: Lakers Make Bronny James Announcement After 16 G League Games
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This story was originally published March 13, 2025 at 3:22 AM.