After seeing action in back-to-back games, Los Angeles Lakers second-year guard Bronny James discussed how meaningful it is for him to get to this point in his career.
Speaking to Melissa Rohlin of the California Post, James showed gratitude for the opportunity to ply his trade at the NBA level.
“I’ve been wanting to play basketball my whole life, so I knew that was going to be my job at some point,” James said. “It’s a dream come true. I’m so privileged to be able to play basketball for a job and I love every single second of it. My teammates embrace it. I’m best friends with all my teammates and my coaches. I’m just happy to be here.”
On Friday, Bronny played 4:26 in the Lakers’ 116-99 win over the Brooklyn Nets, knocking down his only three-point attempt.
That came on the heels of James playing 13:22 in the Lakers’ 137-130 win against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday in which he finished with four points, two steals, one assist, one rebound and one block.
The Lakers received plenty of criticism when they selected Bronny 55th overall in the second round of the 2024 NBA draft. He was taken after a less-than-stellar freshman season at USC, and it was a widely held belief that the Lakers primarily drafted him at the behest of his legendary father, LeBron James.
As a rookie, Bronny split time between the NBA and G League, appearing in 27 NBA games and averaging 2.3 points in 6.7 minutes per contest, while shooting 31.3 percent from the field and 28.1 percent from beyond the arc.
So far this season, Bronny has already played in 34 games, and he is averaging 2.1 points and 1.1 assists in 7.1 minutes per contest. He has also been far more efficient, shooting 40.6 percent from the floor and 41.9 percent from deep.
Although he still isn’t part of the rotation every game, Bronny has shown some clear growth in his second season to the point that head coach JJ Redick feels comfortable in using him in games that aren’t complete blowouts.
It is fair to wonder what the future holds for Bronny in L.A. since LeBron will become a free agent during the offseason and sign elsewhere, but wherever Bronny ends up, he has a chance to develop into a solid, contributing NBA player.