A SAD LAST STAND: LEBRON AS A TEDDY BEAR FOR BRONNY AT … $7.9 MILLION

The father-son merger ends any chance of winning and leads to unfair pressure on a 19-year-old, and still, LeBron carries on near 40 with a family tree and an ex-podcast partner as his head coach

     There is a crisp side of LeBron James that we’ve always admired, an ability to avoid trouble when blazing lights have glowed beyond two decades. But the new side is what shocks us. He continues to govern basketball — two more years, $104 million — but he does so while maintaining a father-and-son ensemble that sheds any chance of winning and, ultimately, might damage Bronny.

     Has he surrendered success just to meld on the same team with his kid? This isn’t legendhood as much as it’s paternal selfishness, a complete disregard for Lakers fans while strangling the desires of management. Of course, he’ll be in San Francisco when his son makes his summer debut Saturday afternoon against a pseudo-farm team of the Sacramento Kings. Why wouldn’t he be there? ESPN will televise the game, just as the network did when he was a high-school megastar. But as Bronny somehow makes his way at 19, against players who are mostly superior, we’ll all start to wonder.

     This is The End of LeBron? As a teddy bear for his child?

     He is making colossal sums near 40, yet he was unable to coax Klay Thompson or another big name to his forlorn group. He’s around only to qualify for the play-in round, possibly, while ensuring Bronny has a supportive dad — though he has no right to be anywhere near an NBA roster. Every time he speaks to the media, with thick glasses and a hoodie the other day, he reminds us that the machinations were not his idea.

     “I’m trying to get my name out for myself,” Bronny said. “I just want to come in and get my work in and get better each day. I never really had a thought of me going to play with my dad. That’s always there to take part of, but it wasn’t a main focus of mine.”

     And yet, when he speaks of a life burden that will be more intense than he realizes, Bronny is expected to plow through the pain. When his shots continue to fail as they did at USC, and when he’s trying to prove himself as a 6-1 defender, will his father be there to hug him? Or tell him to start making the shots because, well, he’s making $7.9 million for the next four years? Ballers who are better than Bronny won’t make a dime. How? Will someone shoot me if I mention nepotism again?

     “For sure, amplified amount of pressure,” Bronny said. “I’ve already seen it on social media and stuff, and the internet and stuff and talking about that I might not deserve an opportunity. But I’ve been dealing with stuff like this my whole life. So it’s nothing different. But it’s more amplified, for sure. But I’ll get through it.”

     When he thanked Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and new coach JJ Redick for the opportunity — “Everything has been surreal. I’m trying to take it all in,” he said — they quickly thanked him. “Rob and I did not give Bronny anything. Bronny has earned this, right?” Redick said. “Bronny talks about his hard work. Bronny has earned this through hard work. And for us prioritizing player development, we view Bronny as, like, case study one, because his base level of feel, athleticism, point-of-attack defender, shooting, passing … there’s a lot to like about his game. And as we sort of build out our player development program holistically, he’s going to have a great opportunity to become an excellent NBA player.”

     Holistically and every other way, LeBron is the only reason Redick is a coach. Some deal, huh? He is allowed to play with his son while playing for a former podcast partner who, previously, only led 9-year-olds. Does anyone wonder why Thompson rejected $30 million more to play for the Lakers than the $50 million he received in Dallas? Perhaps he’s sick of the media circus, as he endured in the Bay Area, but closer to the point, he might not like James much. Remember the 2016 Finals, when Draymond Green was suspended for swiping at LeBron’s groin? Said Thompson, blaming James for snitching: “Obviously people have feelings. People’s feelings get hurt if they’re called a bad word. I guess his feelings just got hurt.”

     Responded James, who ached to fire back: “It’s so hard to take the high road.”

     You remember the outcome? The Warriors, who led the series 3-1, fell apart and allowed James to win his third championship with Cleveland. Said Thompson: “I don’t think LeBron really went to sleep, pinned that up and used that for motivation. But if he did, it’s all right.’’ We can’t blame him for seeing the Mavericks, who came within three victories of a title, and pinpointing his shooting role with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. He wants to win a fifth ring. And who wants the Lakers pap, with no winning?

     Which will include, of all things, Bronny’s uniform number. He’ll wear No. 9 as a tribute to rapper Juice WRLD, who died at 21 of a drug overdose. Also wearing the tattoos of “9 9 9” behind his left ear, James said, “Juice has just been a big part of me keeping calm in some situations that I've been through. So just paying homage to him, especially because he passed, it's a really important thing for me.”

     All of which shouldn’t be part of LeBron’s life on the hardwood. Still pushing the envelope of his prime longer than any NBA superstar, including Michael Jordan, he should be focused solely on contending. Still adding to his incredible numbers, as the only player to pass 40,000 points, why worry about Bronny’s worth when he should be developing in college? A father and son will share massive headaches on this dual experiment, which won’t help anyone beat Dallas, Oklahoma City, Minnesota and Denver. Amid the league’s punitive “second apron,” which damages the future of financial violators, the Lakers will ask LeBron to take about $1 million less to stay under $188.9 million. Will he?

     Why not ask Bronny?

     “We’re now in the apron world,” Pelinka said. “We've seen, you know, contending teams or championship-level teams have to lose players. Does it make trades more challenging? Yes. Does it make good trades impossible? No.”

     Paul George is in Philadelphia for four years and $212 million. Donovan Mitchell stayed in Cleveland. Mikal Bridges is in New York. Thompson is in Dallas. Will DeMar DeRozan come home to Los Angeles? Probably not. Next summer, I should add, LeBron can consider his future on a one-and-one deal. He has a player option and, apparently, could finish his career in New York or Cleveland with four titles in 22 years.

     But for now, he’s King Charles III tending to Prince William.

     Please do not call him Prince Harry.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.