Bronny made his collegiate debut at USC less than a month ago and has since averaged 7.5 points off the bench

Bronny James and LeBron James in Houston on March 28, 2023. PHOTO:

ALEX BIERENS DE HAAN/GETTY

LeBron James’ frustration with the Los Angeles Lakers season hit new heights Saturday when he reportedly claimed out loud that his son Bronny could play for the team “right now, easy.”LeBron, 39, made the claim in the Lakers locker room after the team’s 127-113 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night, according to Claire de Lune, an NBA contributor for The Guardian.

“During ad’s availability, Austin asked LeBron about Bronny’s game tomorrow and if he’d be starting. LeBron said he thought it was time, and loudly said ‘he could play for us right now. easy. EASY,’ “ de Lune posted on X (formerly known as Twitter).

LeBron has long said one of his remaining career goals is to play alongside his son, Bronny, in the NBA.

Bronny, 19, is currently a freshman at the University of Southern California and has been playing limited minutes off the bench while recovering from a cardiac arrest incident in late July.The four-time NBA Champion’s son made his collegiate debut less than a month ago after missing the first eight games of the season recovering from the incident, which left him hospitalized for two days before later undergoing a procedure to treat a congenital heart defect.

Bronny has averaged 6.7 points per game while playing limited minutes out of concern for his health, appearing in a total of seven games so far this season. He’s played an average of 17.5 minutes per game for the 8-7 Trojans, who are unranked and sit in the middle of the Pac-12 conference standings midway through the season.

The Lakers have been less than mediocre themselves midway through the NBA season, sitting at 10th in the Eastern Conference standings. LeBron’s outburst about his oldest son being ready to join the team now came amid a 10-game stretch in which the Lakers lost eight games.

Bronny James in Los Angeles on Oct. 19, 2023.

BRIAN ROTHMULLER/ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY

Since winning the inaugural In-Season Tournament last month, the Lakers are on a 4-10 skid.”We just suck right now,” LeBron said after Saturday’s loss to Memphis, according to Fox Sports.

The NBA’s all-time leading scorer also rejected the notion that the team’s performance during the In-Season Tournament indicates it’s capable of performing at the same level come time for the NBA Playoffs in late April.

“That was just two games,” LeBron told reporters. “That was a small sample. Everybody is getting so cracked up about Vegas, keep bringing up Vegas. It was two games. We took care of that business … but that was really just two games.”