![\"Bronny](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776334267_82_Bronny-James.jpg\")
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Bronny James #9 of the Los Angeles Lakers during a 135-118 Lakers win over the LA Clippers at Crypto.com Arena on November 25, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Second-year Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> head coach JJ Redick revealed on Wednesday that Bronny James<\/a> will be a big part of his team\u2019s rotation in their first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets<\/a>.<\/p>\n Redick said the Lakers will need solid production from Bronny, given that Luka Doncic<\/a> and Austin Reaves have been ruled out indefinitely with injuries.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re gonna have to have all hands on deck,\u201d Redick said of playing through injuries.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Bronny\u2019s improved a lot,\u201d he added, while praising the USC alum for improving as a perimeter defender anda three-point shooter.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re gonna have to have all hands on deck for the series. \u2026 He\u2019s got to be ready \u2026 I think Bronny\u2019s improved a lot. I think we trust him. The shooting piece, I\u2019m a believer in \u2026 He\u2019s improved a ton defensively, in terms of his body positioning\u201d \u2013 JJ Redick on Bronny James <\/p>\n Lakers Trust Bronny James<\/p>\n \u201cI think we trust him,\u201d Redick said of Bronny. The shooting piece, I\u2019m a believer in, because of how well he shot it the last two years in the G League. He\u2019s improved a ton defensively in terms of his body positioning both on and off ball.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe want him to continue to evolve as a disruptive defender as well,\u201d Redick added.<\/p>\n Lakers fans had mixed reactions to Redick\u2019s praise of Bronny.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll be the first to say it. Bronny is a playoff riser,\u201d wrote one fan<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another Lakers fan felt the team had no choice<\/a> but to play Bronny.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is incredible to see how Bronny has worked his way into the rotation just in time for the postseason. Redick isn\u2019t just playing him for the narrative he s playing him because the Lakers need depth.\u201d<\/p>\n Bronny James averaged 2.9 points, 1.2 assists and 0.5 rebounds from 42 appearances in the reagular season. He shot a respectable 39% from three.<\/p>\n Lakers Vs. Rockets Playoff Series<\/p>\n Elsewhere, some fans picked up on Redick saying, \u201cI think we trust him,\u201d in reference to Bronny, rather than being more assertive.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we trust him. Way to make a statement,\u201d wrote one fan.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSo you don\u2019t trust him if you have to say \u201cI think\u201d before \ud83e\udd23\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Lakers are having to trust Bronny\u2026 good luck in general,\u201d added another fan.<\/p>\n One Rockets fan thanked Redick<\/a> for trusting Bronny.<\/p>\n \u201cGonna have Bronny in shambles with Amen Thompson<\/a> guarding him\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Lakers are putting trust in Bronny they are even more cooked than we originally thought. \ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02,\u201d added one fan.<\/p>\n Game 1 of the Lakers vs. Rockets series will tip off Saturday at 5:30 p.m. local time at Crypto.com arena. The Lakers are expected to start Marcus Smart, Luka Kennard, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura<\/a> and Deandre Ayton, with Jake LaRavia<\/a> as the first man off the bench. Jaxson Hayes, Bronny and Nick Smith<\/a> Jr. will be in the rotation, too.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Lakers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Bronny James #9 of the Los Angeles Lakers during a 135-118 Lakers win over the LA Clippers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3790],"tags":[7,4034,1698,300,4044,251,150,4033,4043,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-711675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-lakers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-la","10":"tag-la-lakers","11":"tag-lakers","12":"tag-lalakers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangeleslakers","17":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116413854797772151","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711675","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=711675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}