LeBron James refutes report of Bronny James transfer portal decision

Amid reports that USC guard Bronny James, son of NBA superstar LeBron James, is entering the transfer portal, his father chimed in to pump the brakes on any potential decisions about where he will play next season.

LeBron spoke to the media during a postgame press conference on Tuesday following the Los Angeles Lakers 128-111 victory over the Toronto Raptors and addressed the rumors, pointing out that Bronny has not yet made up his mind about whether or not he will return to SoCal for his sophomore season.

LeBron James refutes reports of Bronny James entering transfer portal

“Bronny’s [James] his own man, and he has some tough decisions to make,” James told reporters. “When he’s ready to make those decisions he’ll let us all know, but as his family, we’re going to support whatever he does,” the four-time NBA champion added.

Regardless of what we think we know about Bronny transferring or potentially declaring for the NBA draft, we heard directly from the horse’s mouth that nothing appears set in stone at this point — and there is perhaps no more reliable source for information on this matter than his father.

However, you can certainly make a case for why Bronny should at least consider moving on from the Trojans. He could greatly benefit from a change of scenery, away from the bright lights of Hollywood and somewhere that will allow him to focus primarily on basketball.

Bronny averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists with an underwhelming .366/.267/.676 shooting splits as a freshman at USC in 19.3 minutes per game. But it is also fair to point out that James was sidelined for USC’s first eight contests of the 2023-24 season after he went into cardiac arrest over the summer, which likely impacted his performance upon returning.

LeBron made it clear that his son still has some thinking to do before making some difficult decisions that lie ahead.