Bronny James has impressed recently in the NBA and the G League, but former NFL player Channing Crowder still isn’t too high on him. During an episode of The Pivot Podcast, Crowder was asked if he was ready to change his stance on James but made it clear he wasn’t.
“I’m not going to stay in my lane ’cause they were losing by 30, he got in the game, he made 17 points,” Crowder said. “He just shot some threes and gets cooked defensively. I want my [Lakers] hat to reinforce my opinion [that] Bronny should not be [in the NBA].”
Crowder was referring to James scoring a career-high 17 points in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 118-89 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on March 20. The 20-year-old earned a lot of plaudits for his play that night, but Crowder isn’t giving him any flowers.
Co-host Ryan Clark then brought up James’ 39-point outing in the G League for the South Bay Lakers against the Santa Cruz Warriors days later on March 24. To say that outing didn’t move Crowder would be an understatement.
“You know what? Little Chan could get 31 in the G League,” Crowder stated. “Listen, I love LeBron. I do not hate on the James family. I’m telling you facts. Bronny James should not be in the NBA.
“I watched him go out there and get cooked the other night,” Crowder continued. “… Since Luka [Doncic] got there, I watch the Lakers a lot now and he gets beaked up defensively… I can make a list of people that can’t play, Bronny’s on the bottom.”
That’s a bit too harsh. James isn’t nearly as bad defensively as Crowder suggests he is. While you wouldn’t call him a good defender just yet, he isn’t a liability on that end of the floor.
As for Crowder’s main point, James, who is averaging 2.3 points, 0.6 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.2 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game in 2024-25, isn’t ready to play significant minutes in the NBA on a regular basis, but to say he doesn’t belong is a stretch. The 20-year-old is about where you’d expect a player selected with the 55th pick of the 2024 NBA Draft to be.
If James is barely featuring for the Lakers a few years down the road, then it would perhaps be accurate to state he doesn’t belong. He has actually shown enough promise in recent weeks for the Lakers to have belief that he could one day turn out to be a solid NBA player.
Charles Barkley Believes Bronny James Should Have Been In The G League All Season
James has been switching between the NBA and the G League this season, and Charles Barkley believes that wasn’t the right decision. Barkley reckons Bronny should have been in the G League all the time.
“That kid, I wish him nothing but the best; he should be in the G League getting better as a player,” Barkley said. “He should have been in the G League all year. You don’t get better sitting on the bench.”
If James had not grown as a player at all from the start of the season to now, then Barkley’s take would have been accurate. Considering that’s not the case, you can’t be too critical of the decision to have him shuttle. Maybe he would have been further along in his development, but we can’t say that for sure.
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