Former Laker begs Bronny James to play with the confidence of Thanasis Antetokounmpo

Amid a stint of forgettable play from Bronny James in Summer League, former Los Angeles Lakers guard Nick Young said that James needs to compete with the level of confidence that Milwaukee Bucks forward Thanasis Antetokounpo competes with on the floor.

“Bronny is not a 3 and D guy stop just saying stuff to be polite Bronny can play ball just take them wash ass bad luck Tyler Perry braids out lol,” Young posted on X, “.. and play with the confidence of Thanasis like I wish a mf would say something to me and yo a– is cut or fire .. play with the confidence of my dad own the nba what they gonna do to me.. have fun out there and miss with confidence that s— will start falling @BronnyJamesJr.”

The Lakers have two upcoming games on their Summer League schedule, as they will take on the Atlanta Hawks in Las Vegas on Wednesday before the team’s matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers slated for Thursday.

But James has underperformed so far during the Lakers’ Summer League stint, and he scored just two points in Los Angeles’ matchup against the Boston Celtics on July 15.

James finished with more fouls than points in a game the Lakers lost by a final score of 88-74, considering he totaled just two points and racked up three fouls. The 19-year-old also converted just one of his five shot attempts from the field and missed every one of his three 3-point attempts.

Unfortunately for fans of the Lakers, James didn’t play a whole lot better against the Houston Rockets a few days earlier. He played 27 minutes in Los Angeles’ 19-point loss — the second-most of any player on the team behind only Dalton Knecht — but didn’t necessarily capitalize on those minutes.

James had quite the rough shooting night, considering he shot just 3-of-14 from the field and 0-of-8 from deep. The youngster totaled just eight points for the game and also turned the ball over three times while failing to register so much as a single assist.

The former University of Southern California doesn’t have many chances to redeem himself before the end of Summer League, but a few bounce-back performances to cap off the Lakers’ stint could perhaps help make up for his woes earlier in the month.

However, if he continues to struggle to score the ball with efficiency for the remainder of the Lakers’ time in Las Vegas, he could be in jeopardy of spending much of the upcoming 2024-25 campaign playing for Los Angeles’ G League affiliate in the South Bay Lakers.