Bronny James took the court as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time on Saturday at the California Classic Summer League in San Francisco. James finished 2-for-9 from the field with four points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal in 22 minutes in a losing effort, but got his professional debut out of the way.
No one on the Lakers necessarily played well in what was a 14-point loss to the Sacramento Kings — except for Blake Hinson and Tommy Kuhse off the bench — but that’s also not the point of Summer League and specifically the California Classic.
James only had four points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal in 22 minutes of action. But for Bronny, it was just about getting over the initial nerves of his debut and focusing on the game itself, via Jovan Buha of The Athletic:
“Yeah, of course. I mean, every first game I’ve played at the next level there are always butterflies in my stomach. But as soon as the ball tips and you go a couple times up and down, it goes away and I’m just playing basketball. It’s always going to be there, but you get through it.”
One thing that could have contributed to those nerves is how well Lakers fans represented themselves at Summer League, which was James’ biggest surprise:
Maybe the atmosphere. It was more than I expected. I mean, it’s a big game for me, but I don’t know. Purple and Gold came and repped for themselves, it was nice to see.”
One positive takeaway for James is that his Summer League debut went at a more manageable pace than his days at USC:
“To be honest, the college game is much faster. I feel like things really slowed down, especially on the offensive end. The week of practice that we had really prepared me for what was to come and I felt comfortable.”
With time, James is only going to get more comfortable with the atmosphere and the speed of the Summer League game. And hopefully by the time things shift to Las Vegas, he is fully ready for what’s to come. Because although stats don’t necessarily matter, a string of good games could go a long way for James’ welcome in L.A.
LeBron James not concerned with Bronny James’ stats
It’s no secret that Bronny has a lot of developing to do before he will be able to play at the NBA level. He only played minimal minutes at USC last season after suffering from a heart issue.
The developing for Bronny starts in the Summer League though, where he will have a chance to get adjusted to the pro game and show what he has been working on.
Regardless of the stats he puts up though, LeBron emphasized that the important thing is Bronny getting better.
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