Bronny James had his introductory press conference with the Lakers Tuesday afternoon, where he and No. 17 overall pick Dalton Knecht fielded questions from a group of reporters with Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and new head coach JJ Redick sharing the stage with them. One of the questions asked of Bronny is why he’ll be wearing the No. 9 jersey when he suits up for the Lakers next season. It turns out, his inspiration for the jersey number comes from one of his favorite rappers. “Juice [WRLD] has just been a big part of me keeping calm in situations that I’ve been through,” James said. “Just paying homage to him, especially because he passed. It’s a really important thing for me.” Juice WRLD was a Chicago area rapper who died in 2019 at 21 years old after an accidental overdose. The rapper had the numbers “999” tattooed on his arm, and used the numbers frequently in social media posts and in his music. During an interview with MTV News in 2019, he talked about the significance of the numbers to him. -via CBSSports.com / July 3, 2024