“Yeah, I have no idea what you’re talking about… I don’t really pay attention to that stuff. ” That was Bronny James’ unbothered response when asked about the swirling trade rumors involving his father. While headlines scream about LeBron James opting into his $52.6 million player option—followed by his agent Rich Paul suggesting he could still walk if the Lakers don’t build a contender fast—Bronny is keeping his blinders on. Even with hot takes like “LeBron does not like playing with Luka” by John Gambadoro—fueling speculation and tension, the 20-year-old is choosing to tune out the chaos entirely, focused on staying grounded and blocking out the noise in his own way.

Bronny James recently engaged in a presser after making his debut in the Lakers’ 2nd game of the California League Classic. During the same time, the reporter highlighted that the young player has been doing a good job of “blocking out the noise” about the trade rumors, despite there being “a lot of interest with the Lakers.”

When asked about how he has managed to do this, Bronny replied, “Umm, I think just doing the same thing I’ve been doing. You know, going to the gym, getting my work in. Umm, focusing on my body, on my health, umm, and not focusing on social media. It’s pretty easy to do that when you have a job to play basketball. So yeah, just taking the right approach to, you know, myself and focusing on myself, my game, my body, my health and everything else is just….whenever I go home and do my, you know, my hobbies and stuff like that. Don’t worry about the, you know, all the outside noise and stuff like that”.

Less social media and bringing an overall change to the lifestyle. Making those sorts of sacrifices is not in everyone’s will-power. Clearly, Bronny is on the right trajectory. As Bronny highlighted, basketball can be an easy distraction. Especially when you’re looking to put the memories of an abysmal first season to a side by working better on the second one.

Whether it is simply to distract himself or not, Bronny James has reportedly been putting in the work during the ongoing off-season. During an interview with Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times, he revealed that his main focus recently has been to get a little leaner. As a result, “I’m just running a lot, getting a lot of conditioning in. And then just staying on top of my diet, eating healthy, being a professional. It’s just Year 2, so I gotta lock in on the things that I didn’t know before my rookie year and being better and excel with that. Yeah, my main focus is this year, or this summer, has been being in elite condition. That’s what I’ve been talking to my coaches about.”

Even during the recent presser, he expressed his desire to get his flow back and improve on the conditioning. With so much work to do, who has time to listen to trade rumors?

Bronny is putting in the work and making a mark. The same was seen in his recent performance, which was good enough to earn him praise from his father on social media!

LeBron James highlights two-worded message for Bronny after 20YO’s Viral Dunk

Bronny James was certainly amongst the stars of the night in the aftermath of the Summer League game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat. Though it was Cole Swider and Darius Bazley who led the offensive effort, the 20-year-old followed behind with his 10 points shot through 3-7 (42.9%) field goals, 2-5 (40.0%) 3-pointers, and 2-2 (100%) free throws. Additionally, he also recorded 2 rebounds and 1 steal. One of the game’s most iconic moments occurred when Bronny stole the ball from Kasparas Jakucionis during the early minutes of the 1st quarter, rushed to the other side of the court, and slammed the ball right into the basket to give the Lakers their first points of the game.

The moment was too good to be missed. Therefore, LeBron James put a post highlighting the same on his Instagram story, to be viewed by his 159 million followers. The post also carried a message that read “Bronny Showtime (Popcorn Emoji)”.

LeBron James wasn’t the only one who was in awe of his son. Skip Bayless, who seldom shies away from criticizing LeBron James with his wild takes, wrote on X, “Bronny James looks so much more comfortable in today’s first Summer League game than he did a year ago”. Trevor Lane wrote, “Nice Summer League debut for Bronny today. Looked good on both sides of the ball.” Bronny’s energy and quick decision-making in his 10:32 minutes of on-court play was certainly welcomed by the people who have been on his side from the beginning.

See what we can accomplish when we put distractions aside? However, though Bronny won’t admit it, the future of him and his father would still be at the back of his mind. Similarly to him, all we can do is wait and watch what happens next.