The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a blowout loss at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night. But it was an expected loss, as L.A. sat nearly their entire regular rotation, including four starters and two other key pieces. This gave players like Cam Reddish and Bronny James legitimate run against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
Bronny played 30 minutes in the absence of the Lakers’ rotation and had by far his best game in the NBA. He finished with 17 points on 7-of-10 from the field with three rebounds and five assists. He was a minus-36 on the night, but still showed flashes of the prospect that many touted out of high school and when the Lakers selected him at No. 55 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft.
The Lakers guard discussed his comfort level on the floor and how it increased both over the course of the game and throughout his rookie season.
“Yeah, I’d say I’ve gained my confidence and gained my comfortability over just reps and getting out there and taking advantage of my opportunity if it’s given,” James said. “So just being ready at all times. I think that’s the biggest thing for me is staying in that, stay-ready games, practice and stuff like that and taking advantage like I did tonight. So yeah, it’s been pretty good for me so far.”
Bronny has been one of the most talked-about 55th picks in league history, and he’s certainly heard all the noise surrounding his abilities. But his focus, as it always has, remains on what he can control.
“I’d just say just going in and working as hard as I can. I mean, that’s all I can do, just learn and be open-minded every day, every time I come into work in the morning and being that same level-headed kid, just trying to get the work done, but also just like I said, taking advantage of those reps that I can get.
“Yeah, just putting my head down and working,” Bronny continued. “I feel like that’s the only thing that I can control right now is going in every day and staying ready to play, staying ready to learn. Getting the work in after hours, early mornings, stuff like that. Just all the controllables that I can do myself. There’s not really much I can do of people, random people talking about me every day. So I can’t really do much about that. So I just go in the gym and work, put my head down and try to get better every day.”
The Lakers have always believed in what Bronny can do with some development and opportunities, and he finally was able to show that with extended minutes on Thursday.
Bronny James feeling back to normal physically
One thing that drastically hindered Bronny James’ development was the cardiac arrest he suffered in the summer before his Freshman year at USC. He has been working to get back to what he used to be physically, and feels he’s made huge steps towards that goal in his rookie season with the Lakers.
“Yeah, I feel like it’s all coming back,” Bronny said. “Just being out for that long. Stuff that I had to go through,wind-wise and lung-wise and all that. Yeah, just I think I’ve been getting more comfortable as I get the reps under me and get the games under me and practices and learning from the bench and stuff like that. I feel like it’s good for me.”
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