the Lakers\u2019 137-130 victory over the Indiana Pacers<\/a>, he was asking the wrong question. Father and son checked in together at the scorer\u2019s table. LeBron James\u2019 smile widened as he followed his son into the game at the official\u2019s whistle, a game that marked just the second time they had played together during the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\nBronny James said, however, that the moment is now all in a day\u2019s work. Yes, his dad, arguably the greatest NBA player of all time, is his teammate, but Bronny James is attempting to carve out a role in the league and prove to the naysayers who decry nepotism over his fully guaranteed contract that he deserves to be on the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not really thinking about it,\u201d Bronny James said. \u201cJust thinking about what I can do to impact the game and pull out a win. I\u2019ve been around him and basketball at the same time for a while now, so it\u2019s not that special. The first couple times were of course, but it\u2019s my second year now. And I\u2019m just trying to prove myself and get better as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adrenaline wasn\u2019t pumping through Bronny James\u2019 veins when the coaching staff told him that the Lakers, who were going to be without Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton, needed him for rotation minutes against the Pacers on Wednesday night, he said. Mostly playing garbage time minutes for the Lakers, or the occasional start when injuries depleted the game-day roster, Bronny James stepped into rotation minutes in Indiana.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I think I was trying to calm myself down more than having adrenaline,\u201d said Bronny James, who has appeared in 33 games for the Lakers this season. \u201cJust trying to relax myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
While his more experienced teammates might have been running on fumes by the end of their six-game trip \u2013 Doncic said after the game that \u201ceveryone was a little bit tired\u201d \u2013 Bronny James brought fresh legs off the bench, weaving into increased playing time in place of his ailing teammates that the Lakers (47-26) deemed inactive before the game.<\/p>\n
Redick shouted out Bronny James for his efforts against Indiana after the game, lauding his defensive intensity \u2013 often being switched onto Pacers All-Star forward Pascal Siakam, and holding his own \u2013 along with a late mid-range jumper that quelled concerns of a once-improbable Indiana comeback.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously he\u2019s a real quick, athletic player, and it really shows on the defensive end,\u201d center Jaxson Hayes said Wednesday night. \u201cAnd I thought he did great today. \u2026 He had a bunch of other deflections, and he was just stopping guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-2 guard finished with four points on 2-for-4 shooting, two steals, one rebound, one assist and one blocked shot in 14 minutes, the second-most minutes off the bench for the Lakers on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s gotten significantly better,\u201d Redick said. \u201cI know our staff has a lot of confidence in him. \u2026 I think the biggest thing with him is he\u2019s got a lot of confidence right now. And I know he didn\u2019t make his [3-point attempt] tonight, but he\u2019s got a lot of confidence in his shot right now. He\u2019s having a fantastic season with South Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bronny James has been one of the better backcourt options in the G-League this season. In 12 regular-season games with the South Bay Lakers, the former USC standout has averaged 15.3 points per game while shooting 54.6% from the field, 42.1% from 3-point range and 90.9% from the free-throw line.<\/p>\n
Redick said that he, along with South Bay Lakers coach Zach Guthrie and Lakers assistant coach Ty Abbott, have coordinated game plans for when they send players to develop and earn starting minutes at the NBA\u2019s minor-league level.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been arguably the best player for like, the last three or four weeks in our stay-ready games every single time,\u201d Redick said of the team\u2019s scrimmages at practices for lower-minute players. \u201cHe\u2019s just, he\u2019s got a bounce to his step right now. I think that just comes from, from developing that confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Bronny James, building confidence through performances in El Segundo has allowed him to parlay his skill set into playing alongside the likes of his Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and his dad, like he did Wednesday. Bronny James said he has been trying to make the most of his minutes in the G-League, and now it\u2019s paying off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to go down there and play my game and be as aggressive as I can,\u201d Bronny James said, \u201cso that when I get these minutes up here that I\u2019m comfortable playing with Luka, Bron, AR and everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
NETS AT LAKERS<\/p>\n
When: Friday, 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Where: Crypto.com Arena<\/p>\n
TV\/radio: Spectrum SportsNet\/710 AM, 980 AM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INIDANAPOLIS \u2014 LeBron James has rarely needed to ask which \u201cJames\u201d that Lakers coach JJ Redick was calling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3774],"tags":[7,113,126,3866,300,185,6,114,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-681065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-indiana","10":"tag-indiana-pacers","11":"tag-indianapacers","12":"tag-lakers","13":"tag-lebron-james","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-pacers","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116298241252090624","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}