Former No. 1 overall draft pick Kwame Brown believes Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James needs to “learn how to play point” and “learn how to bring the ball up” if he wants to avoid fizzling out in the NBA.
”But I see a guy who’s athletic that needs to learn how to cut and slash more until he gets more comfortable with shooting,” Brown said on a now-deleted episode of the Swish Cultures podcast. “If he doesn’t learn how to play the point guard, I don’t think he’s as strong as David Wesley. At his size — 6’1, 6’2 — he’s the only guy that I’ve seen who could play that spot at the two. If he doesn’t learn how to bring the ball up, he’s going to be a poor man’s Juan Dixon. I think he’ll bounce around. His daddy has enough power with Klutch Sports to keep him in the league, but after that, if he doesn’t learn how to play point, he’s gonna fizzle out.”
James, currently listed at 6-foot-2, is on the smaller side for a shooting guard, so it wouldn’t hurt for him to increase his skills at point guard. But the Lakers clearly have faith in the youngster, as they used the No. 55 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft on him and then gave him a four-year contract.
He was drafted despite putting together an underwhelming one-and-done season at the University of Southern California in which he averaged just 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. His shooting also left something to be desired, as he knocked down only 36.6 percent of his shots from the field and 26.7 percent of his shots from deep.
This offseason, he got a chance to play with L.A.’s Summer League squad. James’ struggles continued there to start before the 19-year-old ultimately found his footing down the stretch with a couple of strong performances.
James signed a standard deal with the Lakers, but he’s still expected to spend a lot of time in the G League as he continues to develop. Perhaps he will use his time at that level to improve his point guard abilities, something that Brown would certainly like to see.
James may get a chance to share the floor with his father LeBron when the Lakers open their season on Oct. 22 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but it’s unclear how many NBA opportunities he’ll get in total during his rookie season.
With the Purple and Gold looking to rebound from a first-round exit last season, the team likely can’t afford to give too many minutes to unproven players in the 2024-25 campaign.
