LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 22: LeBron James #23 and Bronny James #9 of the Los Angeles Lakers on defense during the second quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena on October 22, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Bronny James returned to the NBA floor on Thursday night after a miserable performance earlier in the week. LeBron James‘ son was met with chants of “MVP” from the crowd when he stepped up to the free-throw line. He played the entire fourth quarter in the Laker’s 134-96 blowout against the Wizards, scoring a career-high – five points.
It was a far better showing than Tuesday night when he played his first significant minutes for the Lakers, where he had never previously played more than five minutes in a game.
The result? Bronny went 0-for-5 from the floor with three turnovers, turning in a -9 plus-minus in the first quarter and -8 overall in his 15 minutes of play. He was targeted by Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey, who would go on to score 43 points in a 118-104 win over the Lakers.
“[Maxey]’s a fast guard,” said Bronny after the game. “Amazing touch. Can shoot it. I was trying to stand my ground. Just trying to play as hard as I can and bring as much energy as I can. That’s all.”
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Bronny was called up from the G-League South Bay Lakers following a strong string of games, including a season-high 31 points against the Rip City Remix on Friday.
Head coach J.J. Redick mentioned the back-to-back situation as a contributor to the call-up. “Just felt like on a back-to-back, just him giving us energy, I think, was the goal,” Redick said. “I have confidence in him, but obviously didn’t provide that at a high level.”
“Tonight was his first opportunity with the big club,” said LeBron when asked for comment on Tuesday.
“He’s gonna continue to use that to get better and better, just like his first time he played with the G League. … Hopefully he does get more opportunities with us, that’s obviously out of his hands, but what he can control is how he works on his game to get better and better, which we’ve seen him do since the moment he entered that Minnesota game to today.”
LeBron led the team with 31 points and 33 minutes played in the loss on Tuesday.
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