On June 19, Beijing time, the 2023-24 season has come to an end, and the Celtics finally became the champions. The offseason is destined to be full of rumors, and James, as the oldest player in the league, is still the focus of everyone's attention. The Ringer's Bill Simmons said James could jump out of his contract and join the Suns, and the rumors are getting stronger.
Bill Simmons said: "There's a lot of rumors about Phoenix right now, and I think Bronny is going to end up being a first-round pick. The Suns boss and the media strategist on James' team are the same person, which makes me a little suspicious. ”
The Suns have the No. 22 pick in the first round, and while Bronny isn't technically a first-round pick, Bill Simmons said the rookie wasn't fancied in the first place. "There seems to be a lot of confidence in Bronny's selection in the first round, and if you're the Suns owner, it's a terrible draft this year, but they tell the Suns that if we draft Bronny we have a chance to get James as well, then you're going to have to think about it."
When the news broke that the Suns were going to try out Bronny, there were reports that the Suns owner wanted to get James interested in trying to make the Jandu team up a reality. The Suns plan to try out Bronny for the second time later this week and could use the No. 22 pick for more chips.
"I don't know how many years James has left to retire, a year, two years, three years, whether he's a All-Star player or not, you have to explore it." Although talking about James possibly going to the Suns, Bill Simmons said on the podcast that he thinks the chances of James leaving the Lakers are still slim.
After the Lakers were eliminated by the Nuggets, James did not answer any questions about his future in Los Angeles. It is widely believed that James will renew his contract with the Lakers, mainly due to economic considerations. If James really agrees to the Suns, what he will give up is a salary of about 150 million for 3 years, and the Suns, who have no space, can only give him a veteran base salary of less than $3 million a year.
Bronny's current tryout team is very limited, and ESPN reports that many teams can't bring Bronny because the agency doesn't want Bronny to sign a two-way contract and they don't want too many teams to have the opportunity to rob the Lakers. The Suns qualified to try out Bronny and were one of the few teams allowed to try out Bronny.