Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James received a lot of scrutiny when he was drafted in the second round as people claimed he was only chosen because he is the son of LeBron James.
So far during his rookie season though, Bronny has proven all of the doubters wrong. He recently got a chance in the Lakers’ rotation due to injuries and dropped a career-high 17 points in a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The biggest difference for James has been his confidence level as his belief in what he can do on the floor has clearly grown since the Summer League. The reason for that is he has been getting valuable reps with the South Bay Lakers in the G League to work on his game.
Bronny had his best performance to date in the G League on Monday night, scoring a career-high 39 points with 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals on 14-of-21 shooting, 4-of-8 from deep and 3-of-3 from the free throw line in South Bay’s win over the Santa Cruz Warriors:
Bronny James went off for a career-high 39 points in tonight's @SouthBayLakers win. 🔥
(via @nbagleague) pic.twitter.com/yYiusPZn2m
— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) March 25, 2025
LeBron took to social media to celebrate Bronny’s big night to shut up the critics:
SMILE THROUGH IT ALL YOUNG 🤴🏾!!! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 KEEP GOING!! https://t.co/xAWHGG6SI5
— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 25, 2025
At just 20 years of age, it is clear that Bronny is a legitimate NBA prospect that has already made tremendous strides through hard work in his first professional season. He is using people doubting him as fuel, and it seems to be working. If he continues developing at this rate, then Bronny could find a way to crack the Lakers’ rotation sooner rather than later, and who knows what his ceiling could be as a player.
JJ Redick believes Bronny James has improved as playmaker
Bronny James came into the league as a quality defender, so his biggest improvements have come on the offensive side of the ball. Lakers head coach JJ Redick recently praised Bronny for the strides he’s made as a playmaker, both for himself and his teammates.
“I think he’s really embraced the G League,” Redick recently said of Bronny. “Zach (Guthrie) has done a wonderful job with his development, that staff has done a wonderful job with his development and obviously our crew as well having communication with them and getting updates. When he’s been with us, I think he’s been fantastic. In practices and lately in games, I think he’s been really solid.
“The biggest area of improvement is probably just his playmaking, and I don’t mean that just in terms of passing. But just his ability to play on and off the ball as a decision-maker, either a scorer or a passer. And with that, his confidence level and level of aggression has grown. For a young player, those are two really important things.”
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