Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are getting all of the headlines so far in the early season for the Los Angeles Lakers, but the team has needed contributions from many on the roster, especially with so many injuries. On Sunday night against the Miami Heat, head coach JJ Redick somewhat surprisingly turned to Bronny James and he handled himself well.
Bronny played 18 minutes, the second-most of any reserve, finishing with two points, two assists and three steals in the Lakers’ victory. While the statline may not stand out, he found himself on the court during very important minutes in the fourth quarter and Reaves felt he handled himself well.
“I thought he was good. I thought he played really good minutes,” Reaves said of Bronny. “He was good defensively, did the right things offensively. The more he continues to get those minutes, the better he’ll be. We needed the minutes that he gave us tonight. Looking forward to him continuing to do that.”
The defensive end is where James can really make an impact and the Lakers needed him against the Heat and he came through. And like Reaves said, the more Bronny is able to get some of those minutes the better he will get with that experience.
And though Bronny did only have two points, they were memorable as they came on a beautiful lob from Reaves in transition. And Reaves believes he did something that no other player in NBA history has done, which he thought was pretty cool.
“I’ve got to be the first person in NBA history to throw a father a lob and a son a lob. I don’t know,” Reaves added. “That’s got to be right. … While they’re still on the same team? Y’all want to do all these damn statistics, I’ll do it too. It was cool. I told Bron that as soon as I checked out after that. It was a pretty special moment.”
It’s hard to argue with Reaves’ point as most players aren’t even teammates with a father and a son, let alone throwing an alley-oop. Perhaps a couple of his Lakers teammates can join him once LeBron James is healthy, but for now Reaves stands alone after that outstanding play to Bronny.
JJ Redick sees Lakers veterans Marcus Smart and Gabe Vincent as role models for Bronny James
Bronny James will not be the player his father LeBron James is, but that doesn’t mean he can’t have a long NBA career as a good role player and head coach JJ Redick believes the Lakers have a couple of players on the roster who are perfect role models for the guard.
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