The Los Angeles Lakers fell back to Earth in a blowout loss to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night.
Some will dismiss the 26-point loss as a throwaway game because it’s still preseason, never mind the fact that Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler sat out. Reaves and Kessler have yet to suit up for the tune-up games.
A common theme so far this preseason has been judging the performances of Bronny James, who was relatively strong in L.A.’s 24-point win against the Sacramento Kings to open the preseason Monday night. But last night was a different story for the 21-year-old guard. He had his fair share of struggles on both sides of the ball and was unable to take advantage of more opportunities with all the stars sidelined.
Bronny James Draws Harsh Assessment After Lakers Loss
In Monday’s win, James did a little bit of everything. But that wasn’t the case Tuesday. For one, the Lakers started the game poorly — much to JJ Redick’s ire — which was the antithesis of what we watched from the Lakers in the first half of the first preseason game. James, meanwhile, showed one thing: playing point guard is not his forte, argues Lake Show Life’s Tyler Watts.
“The Los Angeles Lakers got plenty of evidence that Bronny James is not a point guard in his preseason start against the rival Golden State Warriors,” Watts wrote. “He struggled to run the offense and picked up most of his assists off LA getting the blender going. James didn’t look like Luka or even TJ McConnell. He is not a point guard. The sooner the Lakers figure that out, the better.”
While no one has ever mistook James as the next Magic Johnson or John Stockton, he is expected to carry some of the ball-handling duties after Doncic, Reaves and Collin Sexton. But Tuesday’s game showed that the Lakers would be wise to give James a different role.
Of course, we can’t jump to any conclusions after one bad game; James may come out the next game and rattle off a Chris Paul-esque assist-to-turnover ratio. But as Watts argues, the Lakers can’t expect James to be a table-setter until he demonstrates the ability to smoothly run an offense.
James Struggles in Tough Loss
It was the second night of a back-to-back, it was a preseason game, it was, it was, it was. Muster up all the (valid) excuses. But for players like James who are fighting for rotation minutes, there could be two games in one day — every opportunity matters a ton.
James’ stronger suit has typically been his defense, but Tuesday wasn’t particularly convincing.
“The Lakers opened the game with (Quentin) Grimes guarding Stephen Curry and James on Podziemski,” Watts wrote. “(Brandin) Podz(iemski) had six points in the first five minutes on his way to a 16-point night. Coach Redick had to switch up the matchups because Podz was cooking Bronny. James showed defensive flashes in the preseason opener against the Sacramento Kings, but the issues returned against Golden State. He got caught ball-watching multiple times and struggled mightily defending on the ball.”
On the other side of the ball, James contributed five assists, but he committed three turnovers. James finished the game with four points and one rebound while shooting 2-for-5 from the field and 0-for-2 from the 3-point line.
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