Second-year Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James continues to show signs of improvement from his rookie season.
In his team’s third NBA Summer League outing against the Clippers on July 14, Bronny produced a team-high 17 points, five rebounds and five assists in just 24 minutes of action. The son of LeBron James shot an impressive 60% from the field and led all Lakers with the best plus/minus differential (+5) when on the floor.
The 20-year-old was perfect in the first half, making all of his four shots from the field, including two of two from deep.
Bronny Making a Legit Leap?
Fans and analysts praised Bronny for taking considerable strides in his second year, following a disappointing rookie season in which he averaged 2.3 points for the Lakers.
One fan felt Bronny was a “legit” talent.
Lakers beat writer Raj C. noted that Bronny was reaping the rewards of his stint with the South Bay Lakers in the G League in his rookie season. Bronny averaged an impressive 21.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.5 assists in the G League last year.
During Bronny’s excellent G League stint, FS1’s Nick Wright explained why the young guard was primed to break out in his second year in the NBA.
“He has had now close to 10 professional games better than any college game he had,” Wright said. “I had been kind of harping on it you then crystallized it to chalking up his freshman year to the cardiac arrest. And I think that is exactly right. I also think it is incredibly impressive and noteworthy that LeBron’s interaction with Stephen A. [Smith] did put another target on Bronny.
“It wasn’t the reason for it, and I defended LeBron vociferously on the right to do that, but in that moment, Bronny was kind of flying under the radar for the first time in a while, and then he wasn’t,” Wright continued. “And the fact that Bronny responded to that by his best pro game and then trumped his best G league game with a legitimately excellent G league game is really impressive.”
Potential to be an Elite Defender
While Bronny’s offensive game continues to be iffy — perfectly reasonable for a second-year player — his defense could potentially translate to the NBA immediately.
Ahead of the 2025 Summer League, Bronny told the Lakers media that he plans to use his defensive chops to get himself into the team’s rotation in the 2025-26 season.
“To get myself on the floor, I’ve got to be a defensive menace,” Bronny reporters, via The Athletic’s Dan Woike. “That’s my main focus, getting conditioned this year. It’s been shown that I know how to score the ball a little bit, I’m staying true to that, but also focusing on the defensive end.”
Bronny previously cited Derrick White and Jrue Holiday as inspirations, and the kind of players he aspires to be. White, much like Bronny, was unheralded entering the NBA after spending four years in college. The Colorado alum would prove a lot of people wrong by putting together a stellar pro career, best highlighted by the role he played in helping the Celtics capture the NBA championship in 2024.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Lakers’ Bronny James Shines in NBA Summer League: ‘Legit’ appeared first on Heavy Sports.