The Lakers beat the Heat 130-120 in Miami’s only visit to the Crypto.com Arena for this season. LeBron James was sidelined due to sciatica issues in a matchup against his former team. However, it marked a key moment for his son’s career with the franchise.
Before tonight, Bronny James averaged just under five minutes per game for the season. However, he played for 18 minutes in this game, including six to seven minutes in the fourth quarter during crunch time. He finished the game with two points, two assists, and three steals.
And while those are not the most outstanding numbers on the box score, it does make you wonder why Redick decided to use a player against an opponent like the Heat, who he has used minimally throughout the season, when he has two of his best guards already available.
Following the game, a reporter asked Lakers’ head coach JJ Redick at the press conference why he decided to play Bronny in the clutch moments of the game.
“I thought he was really good on the ball. He got the steals off the ball, but I thought he was good on the ball. Now I have seen that twice over the last week or so, where in the second half of the game in Portland, he was really just a force in terms of containment and physicality,” said an impressed Redick.
“He arguably made the play of the game, when Luka was double-teamed, and he was the next guy, he drove the closeout, got in the paint, read the paint swarm, and ended up getting his teammate an open three. So just a really good building block tonight for him to play in a very meaningful game in the fourth quarter and have a lot of good plays,” said Redick in conclusion.
BRONNY ABSOLUTE DIME 😭🤧 pic.twitter.com/oQeeDOUo0k
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) November 3, 2025
Bronny James may not have contributed as much in terms of the box score, but his game has definitely progressed in terms of the intangibles that are not visible on the box score most of the time.
Bronny has averaged 1.3 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.8 rebounds while playing in four out of their seven games this season. But that could change significantly soon.
This game may not signify much, except for one key takeaway that Redick’s trust in Bronny is growing, and he could find himself some fixed rotation minutes soon.
