Bronny James, son of NBA legend LeBron James, is one of the most talked about NBA rookies in years.
After being drafted 55th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers, James is not a favorite to win the 2025 NBA Rookie of the Year, but bettors are still backing him.
What Happened: Bettors placed wagers on James making his mark at the 2024 NBA Draft as one of the most bet on players to be taken first overall.
In 25 games at the University of Southern California (USC), Bronny averaged 19.4 minutes, 4.8 points, 2.1 assists and 2.8 rebounds per contest.
Despite the college statistics that don't scream first-round pick, some believed teams other than the Los Angeles Lakers would take a swing at the son of the legendary NBA player. While others recognized the Lakers, who were likely to re-sign father LeBron in free agency, would draft Bronny.
Ultimately, the Lakers took Bronny with the 55th overall draft pick in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft. The team also re-signed LeBron to a two-year contract.
The current NBA Rookie of the Year betting odds from DraftKings Inc DKNG show Bronny as the last available betting option at +25,000. This means a $100 bet on Bronny to win Rookie of the Year would pay out a profit of $25,000.
The current favorites at DraftKings, with their team and draft position in parentheses, are:
Alexandre Sarr (Washington Wizards, 2nd): +500
Zaccharie Risacher (Atlanta Hawks, 1st): +650
Stephon Castle (San Antonio Spurs, 4th): +800
Zach Edey (Memphis Grizzlies, 9th): +1,000
Reed Sheppard (Houston Rockets, 3rd): +1,000
Dalton Knecht (Los Angeles Lakers, 17th): +1,200
DraftKings also offers betting on several 2024-2025 season props on Bronny. These include items like Bronny scoring 15 points in any game (-110), scoring 20 points in any game (+800), scoring 25 points in any game (+1,800), having three three-points made in any game (+120), having 10 or more assists in a game (+3,000) and having a double-double in any game (+3,500).
One betting option that might not be available is a combo parlay of Bronny James winning Rookie of the Year and father LeBron winning NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP). LeBron, who is a four-time MVP winner, is listed with odds of +20,000 to win the 2025 NBA MVP.
While other players for MVP and Rookie of the Year could be parlayed on sportsbooks, an attempt to combine the two James wasn't allowed at several sportsbooks tested.
A comparable parlay would be James winning MVP and Tyler Kolek winning Rookie of the Year at +20,000. This parlay was listed with odds of +4,040,000 at FanDuel, meaning a $1 bet would pay out a profit of $40,400 and a $100 bet would pay out more than $4 million, which is likely why the bet is not allowed.
Early betting shows Bronny being backed heavily. Despite having the worst odds for Rookie of the Year, he attracted 33% and the most bets for the award at BetMGM, a sportsbook from MGM Resorts International MGM and Entain.
What's Next: History isn't on Bronny's side as a second-round pick. Only three second-round picks have ever won the Rookie of the Year award with Malcolm Brogdon (36th overall pick) the last to accomplish the feat in 2017. The other two winners happened in the 1960s.
The last two winners of the award were first overall picks (Victor Wembanyama, Paolo Banchero) and only two of the winners since ’87-’88 have been picked outside of the top 10.
While much has been made of potential nepotism of the Lakers drafting James and potential warnings to other teams that considered drafting him, the future NBA player will have to let his game do the talking to avoid being labeled an NBA draft bust.
In his NBA Summer League debut, Bronny scored four points, had two rebounds and two assists in 21 minutes of play. Bronny was two-of-nine in field goal shooting, including 0-3 on three-point shots. Bronny was also 0-2 in free throws in the contest.
The Lakers have lost both of its Summer League matches, with Bronny sitting out a second match due to knee swelling.
Lakers first-round draft pick Dalton Knecht had 12 points in each of the Lakers Summer League matches.
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© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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