Over the last handful of months, the criticism surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers‘ decision to draft Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, and have him shuttle between the G League and NBA has been replaced with cautious but tangible optimism.
The younger James did well during this past G League regular season, and he followed it up with a solid showing in the Las Vegas summer league. He has a long way to go if he is to earn a permanent place on the Lakers’ roster, but he has also come a pretty long way over the last calendar year.
Advertisement
One initial concern with him after he was drafted in 2024 was whether he would become a good enough outside shooter, both off the dribble and in catch-and-shoot situations. Lakers assistant coach Nate McMillan said during an appearance on “The Sports Shop with Reese and K-Mac” that the younger James was more confident this year during summer league play and that it helped his outside shooting.
“He came out into this summer league and played every game this summer,” McMillan said. “You could see the confidence. He was much more relaxed than he was last year, and everybody would have been nervous as could be last season. … His shot was never broken, but the confidence, you could see he was knocking down those shots, getting to the basket. Defensively, we wanted him to challenge himself to pick up the ball.”
During the Las Vegas summer league last month, the 20-year-old averaged 14.3 points and 3.8 assists a game while shooting 47.6% from the field. He made only 30% of his 3-pointers, but he did shoot 3-of-5 from that distance in a July 14 contest versus the Los Angeles Clippers.
He seems to be on a trajectory that could result in him becoming a legitimate NBA rotation player not too long from now, as long as he continues to put in the requisite work.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers assistant coach talks about Bronny James’ improved shooting