After a solid run at the California Classic, the Los Angeles Lakers moved to the desert to kick off the Las Vegas Summer League. And if a game featuring Bronny James and Dalton Knecht wasn’t enough, the Lakers would be taking on 2025 top overall pick Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks in their first game at Thomas & Mack Center.
With this being Flagg’s first bit of NBA action, the crowd packed the building and Dallas ultimately came out on top in a very close 87-85 contest. Flagg, like many other top picks in their first Summer League game, struggled offensively as he had just 10 points on 5-of-21 shooting, though he did fill the stat sheet everywhere else with six rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block.
The Lakers threw a number of different defenders on Flagg with Bronny seeing his fair share of action against him as he looks to establish himself as a defensive stopper. And, despite the size difference, the Lakers guard felt he held his ground.
“I kind of consider myself to be a defensive guy, I’m not gonna be a scoring guy right now like I said, so I was just trying to hold my ground,” Bronny said after the game. “I feel like he’s got half a foot on me so just trying to stay my ground.”
But despite his bad shooting night, James still feels Flagg will be a special player in the NBA.
“He’s great,” Bronny added. “I watched him all of college and he’s an amazing player. I have the utmost respect for him. He’s gonna do something special, for sure.”
For his part, James finished with just eight points on 2-of-8 shooting, but as he noted, scoring isn’t really his strength as he is focused on defense being his calling card. Listed at just 6’2″, trying to hold Flagg in check at 6’9″ was a tall task, but Bronny more than held his own.
James will continue to take on these kinds of assignments as the Lakers’ Summer League journey in Las Vegas continues, but seeing Flagg in the opener was one of the toughest matchups he will see and he more than held his own.
Bronny James discusses growing into leadership role on Lakers Summer League team
Despite being just 20 years old, Bronny James is already growing into something of a leader on this Lakers’ Summer League team and is embracing that role.
“To be honest, just trying to go out there and be myself,” Bronny said. “I’ve always been told that I have a leader kind of personality, so just trying to go out there and be the right example for my team and everything else will follow. And the guys…we have an amazing group of guys that are very coachable and very good people so there’s no problem whatsoever when it comes to that.”
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