Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports
Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James reportedly has received the most bets to win the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award at multiple sportsbooks.
“More bets have been placed on Bronny James to win Rookie of the Year (ROY) than any other player at multiple sportsbooks,” ESPN’s David Purdum wrote. “James has attracted nearly one in four of the bets placed on the ROY market at ESPN BET. BetMGM reported taking a $1,000 ROY bet on James at 250-1 on July 6, from a bettor in Ontario, and DraftKings said that only [Zach] Edey had attracted more money wagered than James in its ROY market.”
The No. 55 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, James has gotten off to a slow start in Summer League play, but it appears there is a ton of hype around him ahead of the 2024-25 regular season.
Through five Summer League games, James is averaging a mere 5.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting just 28.6 percent from the field and 10.0 percent from beyond the arc.
However, the former University of Southern California product had his best scoring game of the summer on Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks. James finished that matchup with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field.
It was recently reported that the Lakers are still determining how much time James will spend in the G League, which is certainly a concern for his chances of winning the Rookie of the Year award.
While James may spend some time in the G League, there are other players like Edey, No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher and other lottery selections that will likely spend most — if not all — of their rookie seasons at the NBA level.
James would have to put up some major numbers to win the Rookie of the Year award. Last season, San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.6 blocks per game on his way to the Rookie of the Year award.
Since the 2017-18 season, every player that has won the Rookie of the Year award has averaged over 15 points per game.
During the 2023-24 season at USC, James averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 36.6 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from beyond the arc. He’d likely need to improve significantly upon those stats to be in the conversation for Rookie of the Year honors in the 2024-25 season.
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