Bronny James’ G League debut in many ways mirrored his first few months with the Los Angeles Lakers.
He is trying to find his job.
James started and scored six points on Saturday as the South Bay Lakers beat the Salt Lake City Stars 110-96.
“I haven’t been with the team as much as I would like to know what my role is on that team. So I just go out there and play my game and just play basketball,” James said.
James, the 20-year-old son of LeBron James, was 2-for-9 from the field, including 0-for-4 on 3-pointers. The 6-foot-3 guard also had three rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.
He was added to the South Bay roster Thursday after the Lakers completed a five-game road trip.
Saturday marked Bronny’s most action in a game since the Lakers’ preseason game against Golden State on Oct. 18, when he played 35 minutes and scored 15 points.
“I think he did a good job commanding the ball. He made the first basket of the game … “And I thought, like all of our point guards, we defended at a high level. “
LeBron watched the game from front seats on the other side of the main stands with his wife, Savannah, and 10-year-old daughter, Zuri. Gloria James, Bronny’s grandmother, was also present, along with Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka.
LeBron and Lakers coach JJ Redick has repeatedly said that Bronny will be spending a lot of time this season in the G League as he works on his game.
Bronny has played in five games for the Lakers, scoring four points in 14 minutes of action. It was in the last 1:28 of the Lakers’ 116-106 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night.
LeBron and Bronny made NBA history on Oct. 22 when they became the first father and son to play together during the Lakers’ season-opening win against Minnesota.
Saturday started well for Bronny when he scored on his first possession, hitting a jumper 43 seconds into the game.
“I was just getting a basket. He came to me and was just…yeah. “I didn’t fail,” he said.
Bronny’s other basket was a floater in the paint in the second quarter. He also had a free throw in the fourth quarter. The G-League has an experimental free throw rule this season where a free throw could be worth two or three points for any foul except in the final two minutes and would usually take he two or three free throws.
Bronny showed his passing ability late in the first quarter with an alley-oop pass to Kylor Kelley.
Midway through the second quarter, Bronny partially blocked Isaiah Wong’s layup before Quincy Olivari grabbed the rebound. Maxwell Lewis finished with a three-pointer at the other end of the court to put the Lakers up 40-28.
Bronny’s first visit drew a packed crowd to the Lakers training facility, where South Bay plays its games. The capacity of the UCLA Health Training Center is 676 people.
“It felt really good to go out there and just play my game. There is not much difference. I was just playing basketball. It felt good,” said Bronny, who was the 55th pick in the 2024 draft in June after averaging 4.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in 25 games for Southern California this season. this time. “I’ve seen all the hype about my move to the G. It’s an amazing experience for me to go out and play my game and get some minutes. “I’m excited about it.”
Salt Lake City coach Steve Wojciechowski admitted it was a different feeling compared to other G League road games.
“I mean, usually this doesn’t happen after a G League game. I’d usually be on my second slice of pizza by then,” he said of doing a postgame interview. “It’s exciting for the G League and it will bring attention to our league. And we have one of the best leagues in the world. Probably the third best league in the world after the NBA and the EuroLeague.
“His story draws attention not only to the South Bay, but to the league in general and to the children who play in the league. And so, the more those stories are looked at, even if this one-off story is made up, it’s good for the league.”
2024-11-10 23:27:00
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