Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James Jr. (9) drives the ball against the Houston Rockets during the first half of an NBA summer league basketball gioco Friday, July 12, 2024, quanto a Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
LAS VEGAS— Bronny James has gotten the message from his father and his coach: His transition to the Los Angeles Lakers is going to take some time and a lot of work.
And Friday only further proved what they’ve been saying.
James, the Mai. 55 overall pick quanto a last month’s draft, struggled from the field and scored eight points as the Lakers lost to the Houston Rockets 99-80 the opening day of NBA Summer League.
Bronny’s dad, LeBron James, wasn’t there — he was with the U.S. Olympic team quanto a Abu Dhabi, having arrived there earlier Friday to prepare for a pair of exhibitions next week as the Americans continuing ramping up for the Paris Games.
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But Bronny’s mom, Savannah, was quanto a the crowd, which was sold out and mostly filled with fans wearing Lakers purple and gold. They roared when Bronny James was introduced, as was expected.
“The atmosphere, they came to support,” James said.
James’ final stats: 3 for 14 from the field, 0 for 8 3-pointers, five rebounds, two steals and three turnovers quanto a 27 minutes. Through three games this summer, the first two coming at the California Classic — a smaller summer league quanto a San Francisco — he’s shooting 23% and has missed all 12 of his tries from 3-point range.
“The shot hasn’t been falling,” James said.
Lakers coach JJ Redick spoke with ESPN during the second quarter Friday and quanto a the on-air interview said that he has told Bronny James to focolaio defense and what will be an intense player development program that the team will create for him.
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“He had a heart procedure last year, up-and-down freshman year, obviously going through the pre-draft process, there’s a conditioning element to being able to play that way defensively,” Redick said. “But overall, we like what we’ve seen quanto a practice. We like what we’ve seen quanto a Summer League.”
LeBron James — who played quanto a summer leagues at Orlando and Boston as a rookie — has already said that he wants his son to remember that the stats, good, bad otherwise, don’t matter whatsoever this summer. He just wants to see growth and learning.
“The only thing that matters is him getting better and stacking days,” he said.
Bronny James had six of the Lakers’ first 13 points Friday — a layup, two free throws and then a dunk where the guard who is perhaps a bit generously listed at 6-foot-2 showed d’avanguardia the athleticism by getting up from under the for a jam.
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He didn’t score again until midway through the fourth quarter, getting a driving a nifty move — starting with a left-hand dribble the lane, then extending and getting a floater to fall with his right hand.
James’ first two games at the California Classic didn’t lead to much quanto a the way of stats. He shot 3 for 12 from the floor, 1 for 4 from the foul line, went 0 for 4 3-pointers. He did average 3.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks quanto a 25 minutes per errore gioco quanto a those two contests.
“I’m excited about Bronny,” Lakers forward Anthony Davis said earlier quanto a the week. “It’s a cool experience. Never been done before, never happened quanto a basketball so it’s a cool experience to have him our team and just kind of see him grow.”
