Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James has not gotten off to the best start in his NBA career. After being selected at No. 55 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft, the son of LeBron James has struggled at the Summer League. His offense has struggled a lot since coming to the NBA, and fans and analysts have surely had mixed feelings about Bronny.
Gilbert Arenas recently mocked Bronny during an episode of The Gilbert Arenas show, standing up and clapping and saying “Go, daddy.” Arenas then went on to act like Bronny was going to grab towels and water. The other hosts then went on for a lively discussion, and it was quite the scene.
LeBron and Bronny are set to make history as the first father-son duo to play together in the NBA, and the fact that Bronny got a guaranteed four-year contract was another surprising turn of events.
In general, Bronny joining the Lakers has garnered a ton of criticism from numerous people across the industry, and the chatter won't go away anytime soon, especially with the way Bronny has struggled early on.
A look at Bronny James' Lakers start
Things have not gone well thus far for Bronny James in a Lakers uniform. Through his first three games (with two at the California Classic), Bronny has shot just 6-for-26 and has an 0-for-12 clip from three-point land. He even admitted he was in a slump after the Lakers Summer League loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday (h/t Dave McMenamin of ESPN).
“I just feel like I'm in a little slump right now.”
Lakers head coach JJ Redick gave an honest assessment of Bronny James and he found some positives in his recent play: “Overall, we've liked what we've seen in practice. We like what we've seen in the Summer League.”
Defense has been a strong point for Bronny James since high school and during his lone college season playing for the USC Trojans. While his shooting hasn't worked thus far, his quality defense is something that Redick is happy about. He might not see very many minutes during the season, but his role could grow if he can develop and improve his game.
Redick also opened up about the expectations for Bronny and said they need to be a bit tampered.
“I think you just have to let go of outcomes, and you just have to enjoy the process of being in the NBA…He's obviously case study No. 1. He's going to be a big part of what we do in our player development program…We're going to invest heavily in him. He's got to fall in love with that process and let go of outcomes.”
The Lakers face off against the Boston Celtics in the Las Vegas Summer League on Monday night before facing off against the Atlanta Hawks and top overall 2024 draft pick Zaccharie Risacher on Monday.
It is still very early for Bronny James, and the expectations are through the roof given his status and everything else going on around him.
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