The Lakers are finally at full strength as LeBron James finally made his season debut after nearly missing a month of basketball action for the first time at the beginning of a season. While the team still flourished in his absence (10-4 record in the 14 games he missed), all his teammates believed that LeBron James’ return would only mark the elevation of their game.
Unfortunately for his own son, Bronny James, his return also marked the end of any rotation minutes available for him to play. Bronny James got a lot more time on the floor when Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves, among other players, were injured for the Lakers. But now the team is fully healthy.
As a result, he was assigned to the Lakers’ South Bay-based G-League affiliate with their rookie Adou Thiero last night. This news came just an hour after they announced some major changes in their front office.
Bronny James, who played 27 games in all of the 2024-25 season, already got minutes in 10 out of the first 14 games for the Lakers this season. He averaged 2.1 points, 1.8 assists, and 0.9 rebounds in those games, while shooting 29.6% from the field this year.
While these numbers don’t jump out of the box score as exceptionally impressive, James earned praise from several members of the team for his role on the defensive end of the floor.
However, just a few days ago, head coach JJ Redick went viral on social media after he was recorded yelling at Bronny James for not shooting the ball against the Bucks. James eventually did nail a long-range three against the Jazz in the next game, but he had several games where it seemed like he was low on confidence on the offensive end of the floor.
Therefore, developing his confidence for scoring is one of the biggest reasons why the Lakers decided to assign him back to the G-League.
Former NBA Player Urges Bronny James To Shoot The Ball More
Gilbert Arenas, the former NBA player who has been a vocal supporter of Bronny James ever since he was drafted to the NBA, recently went on his show ‘The Gil’s Arena’ and urged the young Lakers guard to shoot the ball more and not solely rely on his athleticism and defense.
“You can’t just be in the game. You’re too athletic, you’re too explosive going to the rim. You’re sitting there trying to play safe basketball, and safe basketball makes you look bad… You’re not going out there playing actual basketball itself. You’re just trying to survive on the court… This is not the style he plays in the G League. In the G League, he is a focal point,” said Arenas.
One key aspect that seems to be eating at Bronny’s confidence is that he’s only a late second-round pick and is expected to pick up the smaller roles on a team.
Players like Nikola Jokic and even James’ teammate, Austin Reaves, should be a testament to the fact that it is immaterial when you were drafted or even drafted at all in the first place. It is not how you got the opportunity that matters, but what you did with it.
So every time he passes up on an open shot to drive in and pass the ball to his teammate, he needs to realize that he’s skipping on a shot at greatness. The greatest players of all time missed the most shots as well. Therefore, Bronny James needs to realize that he misses 100% of the shots that he doesn’t take.
