Bronny James‘ NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t get off to the greatest of starts, but he did show some promise in the latter stages of his rookie season. James had some solid showings and impressed in the G League, and a Western Conference Executive believes the Lakers want him to be part of the rotation next season.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that’s their plan,” one Western Conference executive said. “I know the guy gets a lot of grief because of who his dad is, but we’ve seen a lot of tape on (Bronny) and the fact is, he was a lot better player in April than he was in October, and definitely in July.”
There is no denying that James improved a fair bit. The early signs were so bad that the Lakers were hammered for selecting the former USC guard with the 55th pick of the 2024 NBA Draft.
James averaged 8.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game for the Lakers in the Summer League. He was very inefficient, too, as he shot 35.0% from the field and 15.8% from beyond the arc.
Things didn’t get much better in the preseason either. James averaged 4.2 points, 1.7 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game while shooting 29.7% from the field and 8.3% from three.
That provided James’ doubters with ammunition to claim he did not belong in the NBA and that he had only made it in because he is LeBron James‘ son. There was an avalanche of criticism coming his way, but he did eventually start playing better.
James would end up averaging 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.9 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game for the South Bay Lakers in the G League. He was a bit more efficient, too, shooting 44.0% from the field and 38.0% from beyond the arc.
While some might dismiss G League performances, we are talking about someone who looked out of place in the Summer League at one point. James had taken some big strides, and the executive is backing him to be a regular for the Lakers in 2025-26.
“He’s 20 years old,” the executive stated. “He had a whole year where his development was thrown all out of whack. But he can defend the perimeter, and he showed he can shoot the 3.
“If he can show that wasn’t a fluke, he is going to start getting 10, 15 minutes a night because the team is going to feel like they can trust him,” the executive added. “I think he is going to do all that. He is going to be a regular for them next year.”
This executive isn’t the only one with this belief. Lakers insider Dave McMenamin thinks James could be a rotation player by midseason. That might be a bit too soon for the 20-year-old, though.
James has shown some promise on the defensive end, and the outside shot is falling with greater regularity, but he didn’t even come close to cracking the Lakers’ rotation as a rookie. It was only when the team had an injury crisis that he got meaningful minutes on the court.
If the Lakers were in rebuild mode in 2025-26, then maybe James, who averaged 2.3 points, 0.7 rebounds, 0.8 assists, and 0.3 steals per game as a rookie, could have been part of the rotation. They aspire to be serious title contenders, though, and you’ve got to be a pretty good NBA player to play significant minutes for a team like that.
