Los Angeles Lakers rookie Blake Hinson told Lakers Nation that he doesn’t believe fellow rookie Bronny James received special treatment during Summer League.
The development comes after a report from the US Sun went viral which detailed supposed chemistry issues within L.A.’s Summer League team due to how James was treated. The report included quotes from an anonymous player.
Hinson reacted to the report.
“No,” Hinson said. “Where is that (report) at? Honestly, you know how it is. Stuff like that doesn’t really shock me. But we need to figure out if that’s even true because to be totally honest with you, as far as his treatment, he was just a normal guy.
“He just played basketball, he really stays out of the way. He’s a cool dude. I don’t really understand how something like that came out. So that’s nonsense to me.”
Hinson also spoke highly of James’ character.
“Cool dude off the court, cool dude on the court,” Hinson said. “I don’t really understand that nonsense that you just informed me about. That’s not accurate, it shouldn’t be accurate.”
The anonymous player from the US Sun report said that he, along with others on the roster, were “all thinking about the end of the Summer League.”
“I ended up being very frustrated because I was never put in the best situation, or even put in some plays or game plans because they wanted Bronny to show his skills and shine,” the anonymous player told the US Sun.
“If you talk to any other player that was part of the roster of the California Classic and the Summer League, most of them would tell you the same thing.
“The tensions were visible, and pretty much we were all thinking about the end of the Summer League to get out of here and focus on our next step in our careers.”
Hinson — who played college basketball at the University of Mississippi as well as the University of Pittsburgh — played in five games during the Lakers’ time in the Las Vegas Summer League. During that span, he averaged 11.4 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.
He showed off his confidence in his 3-point shot in Las Vegas. He averaged a whopping 7.8 3-point attempts per game and shot 33.3 percent from deep.
In the Lakers’ final Summer League contest versus the Chicago Bulls, Hinson let it fly early and often from deep. He attempted 14 shots from 3-point range and knocked down five of them in over 25 minutes of playing time.
Hinson scored a team-high 25 points in Los Angeles’ 26-point victory over the Bulls, with 21 of those points coming in the first half of the contest.
The sharpshooter put together a more productive Summer League stint than James did, at least on the offensive side of the ball. James struggled to score the ball efficiently during his one season at the University of Southern California, and that carried over into Summer League.
Across four appearances in Las Vegas, James averaged 8.8 points per game while shooting just 35.0 percent from the floor and 15.8 percent from deep.
It should be interesting to find out whether Hinson or James plays more minutes with the Lakers in the upcoming 2024-25 regular season.
