According to Shams Charania and Dave McMenamin of ESPN, Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James will soon spend time back and forth with the Lakers and the team’s G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers.
“Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James is expected to travel on the team’s upcoming road trip from Oct. 28-Nov. 6 and then begin shuttling between the active roster and the franchise’s South Bay G League affiliate, sources told ESPN on Friday,” McMenamin and Charania wrote.
That report comes multiple months after The Athletic’s Jovan Buha claimed that James will spend the lion’s share of the 2024-25 campaign in the G League.
“And though Bronny James had an impressive end to summer league, at least by his modest expectations, the Lakers plan on using him primarily in the G League as he remains far from a rotation-caliber player,” Buha wrote.
When looking at James’ production — or lack thereof — with the Lakers in preseason, it’s probably in his best interest to hone his skills in the G League before he sees serious playing time with Los Angeles.
James played in all six of the Lakers’ preseason contests, and he mustered more than four points in only one game. He dropped 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the field in Los Angeles’ preseason finale against the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 18 after he totaled just eight in his first five preseason games combined.
In addition, there doesn’t seem to a whole lot of minutes to go around with the depth that the Lakers have at the guard spots. D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves have solidified themselves as Los Angeles’ starting point guard and shooting guard, and the likes of Gabe Vincent, Dalton Knecht and Max Christie could monopolize the available minutes at those positions off the bench.
But, it is worth noting that James played in the Lakers’ season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 22, even if it was only for a brief period. In just under three minutes of action, James grabbed one rebound and missed both of his shot attempts from the field.
It should be interesting to find out if James will see the floor again in the Lakers’ upcoming matchup against Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns on Friday night. Like the Lakers, the Suns are 1-0 on the season after the team earned a road win over guard James Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.
