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The Los Angeles Lakers are finally letting Bronny James play on the road in the G League, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin and Shams Charania reported on December 11.
Bronny, the eldest son of Lakers superstar LeBron James, is set to play for the South Bay Lakers on Thursday, December 12, in Phoenix against the Valley Suns. He is coming off his best G League game with a career-high 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting in South Bay’s 119-111 win over the San Diego Clippers on December 7.
The 20-year-old Lakers rookie added four rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes.
It was his first game since recovering from a heel contusion which sidelined him for several weeks.
“I think it’s good,” Bronny said of his G League stint, per Clutchpoints. “Game by game trying to learn everything I can. Always just staying aggressive and playing my game. Playing for my teammates and coaches. It’s been good so far.”
Before his breakout performance, Bronny averaged only 5.0 points on a horrendous 21.1% shooting on the floor while missing all his three 3-point attempts in his first two G League games.
After his impressive game, Bronny is now averaging 8.7 points 3.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, a steal and a block for the South Bay Lakers.
Bronny needs all the reps he can get in the G League for his development as he isn’t part of the Lakers rotation, meaning there are no guaranteed minutes for him in the NBA.
‘What’s Best For Bronny’s Development’
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst earlier reported on “The Hoop Collective” podcast that Bronny was only scheduled to play in the South Bay Lakers’ home games, which he slammed.
“I don’t know whose idea it was, but obviously, the Lakers are fine with it,” Windhorst said. “They’re doing it. In this particular instance, I think that’s gone too far, and I don’t think it benefits Bronny. I don’t think it benefits the South Bay Lakers, and I don’t think it benefits LeBron at this point.”
But Joey Buss, South Bay’s president and CEO, told ESPN last month that they haven’t arrived at that decision.
“That’s going to be fluid,” Buss told ESPN. “We’re going to do what’s best for his development. There’s going to be a lot of things that we do for all the assignment players, and decisions are made based off where they are, based off the injury status, based off how many bodies they need for practice. There’s a lot of variables. So nothing unique for Bronny. He’s just kind of in that system.”