Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James made history in the team’s season opener, taking the floor with LeBron James to become the first father-son duo in NBA history.
James got to see the floor for about four minutes towards the end of the second quarter alongside his dad before going back to the bench for the rest of the game.
As a rookie late-second round pick, it’s no secret that Bronny needs to develop his game before actually being able to play NBA rotation minutes. The expectation is for him to spend a majority of his his season in the G League to get those reps, and it appears that is still the case.
According to Shams Chanaria and Dave McMenamin of ESPN, James will go on the team’s upcoming road trip before returning in time for the South Bay Lakers’ season opener on Nov. 9:
Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James is expected to travel on the team’s upcoming road trip from Oct. 28-Nov. 6 and then begin shuttling between the active roster and the franchise’s South Bay G League affiliate, sources told ESPN on Friday.
It appears that Bronny, LeBron and Rich Paul of Klutch Sports are all on board with the plan the Lakers have in place:
As Bronny James and his representative, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, discussed development throughout his pre-draft process with NBA teams, sources told ESPN that the concept of the G League was welcomed. Those sources said Paul advocated for a standard contract — not a two-way deal — during pre-draft while making clear he and Bronny, selected by L.A. with the No. 55 pick in the second round, were fully aware and open to the development process.
Getting that buy-in from Bronny will be important for his development, so it is good to see that everyone is on board.
The Lakers are putting a huge emphasis on player development and their G League program and Bronny will be the first case study for that. After hardly playing in his lone season at USC due to a health scare, James will now get the opportunity to get those minutes that he wouldn’t if he spent the entire season with the Lakers’ parent team.
Bronny James reflects on NBA debut
Even if Bronny James is in the G League for most of his rookie season, he got to have a special moment with his dad LeBron in the season opener and reflected on how that felt.
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