From the start to the end of the G League season, rookie Bronny James improved.
And James, the 55th pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the 2024 NBA draft, proved his worth as a G League player and potential everyday NBA player.
Considering where and how he started and where he is finishing – the G League South Bay Lakers’ season is over – with the chance to get playing time with the Los Angeles Lakers in the final two weeks of the NBA regular season, Bronny James’ rookie season was a success filled with growth and promise under a hypercritical spotlight typically not directed at a late second-round pick.
“It was obvious to me from the moment I started spending time with him on the court this summer, he was certainly going to be an NBA player, and I still believe that. He’ll be an NBA player,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said after a March 20 game against Milwaukee in which Bronny James scored 17 points, his highest output in an NBA game.
On March 24, James posted a career G-League high 39 points on super-efficient 14-for-21 shooting, including 4-for-8 on 3-pointers, plus seven rebounds, four assists and four steals in a victory against Santa Cruz.
“The biggest area of improvement is probably just his playmaking, and I don’t mean that just in terms of passing,” Redick said. “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.”
For his 18-game G League season, he averaged 18.6 points, 4.8 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.7 steals and shot 41.6% from the field, 33.6% on 3-pointers and 76.9% on free throws. Of the 374 players who appeared in at least 18 G League games, James was 43rd in scoring and was one of nine players to average at least 18 points, 4.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds.
Here are G League stats of other players drafted in the second round last year (stats through Monday’s games):
- Cam Christie, 46th pick: 16.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.0 steals, 40.2% field goal shooting, 30.2% 3-point shooting, 80.5% free throw shooting in 40 games.
- Antonio Reeves, 47th pick: 24.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.4 steals, 47% field goal shooting, 41.6% 3-point shooting, 80% free throw shooting in 11 games.
- Tristen Newton, 49th pick: 16.5 points, 6.7 assists, 6.3 rebounds, 1.8 steals, 40.5% field goal shooting, 33.9% 3-point shooting, 76.7% free throw shooting in 34 games.
- Anton Watson, 54th pick: 12.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.0 steals, 44.1% field goal shooting, 31.9% 3-point shooting, 65.1% free throw shooting in 37 games
- Cam Spencer, 53rd pick: 23.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.0 steals, 53.8% field goal shooting, 49.3% 3-point shooting, 76.5% free throw shooting in eight games.
- Kevin McCullar Jr., 56th pick: 11.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.7 steals, 39.3% field goal, 22.2% 3-point shooting, 78.8% free throw shooting in 13 games.
A holistic approach is required when examining James’ 2024-25 season spent in the G League and the NBA. When he was drafted in June, he was just 11 months removed from sudden cardiac arrest while working out on USC’s campus the summer before his freshman season for the Trojans.
To work through the mental and physical challenges of a life-threatening medical event and get back to the player he was on track to become – which was a first-round pick – time was also a necessity.
Outside James, his family, his representation and the Lakers, patience was in short supply, and critics pounced immediately after James’ entry into pro basketball didn’t yield the kind of production that screamed “He’s an NBA player.”
In his first two G League games, he was 4-for-19 from the field and 0-for-6 on 3-pointers, and he didn’t play much for the NBA’s Lakers. But he finished strong. He scored at least 30 points three times in the G League and showed potential as a scorer, shooter and playmaker. In his final nine G League games, he has improved on his season averages: 22.6 points, 5.3 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 44.7% from the field, 36.7% on 3s and 82.6% on free throws.
He has limited NBA playing time but his 17-point, five-assist, three-rebound performance against Milwaukee revealed what’s possible.
“His confidence is growing,” Redick said. “You mentioned the word comfort. That’s certainly there for him, and the next step is just becoming like an elite, conditioned athlete because when he does that with his physical tools and just like his burst and his handle, we think he’s going to be an above-average to a really good NBA shooter. He’s going to have a chance to really make an impact.”
The plan was to develop James into an everyday NBA player over the course of multiple seasons, which is not unusual for a second-round pick.
“Just putting my head down and working,” Bronny James told reporters. “I feel like that’s the only thing that I can control right now – going in every day and staying ready to play, staying ready to learn. Getting the work in after hours, early mornings, stuff like that.
‘Just all the controllables that I can do myself. There’s not really much I can do of people, random people, talking about me every day. So I can’t really do much about that. So I just go in the gym and work, put my head down and try to get better every day.”
Through intense scrutiny – and not because of anything he did – that included a verbal feud between his dad and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, Bronny James has proven himself worthy of a second-round pick and a more-than-capable G League pro with the possibility of developing into an everyday NBA player.
“Since day one, I’ve just been impressed with the person that he is and to deal with the (expletive) because of who his dad is and just keep a level head about it and be a class act says a lot about him, says a lot about that family and the way LeBron and Savannah have raised him,” Redick said.
Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt