Bronny James’ summer-league showing included a few highlights — and many more questions

The biggest story of NBA Summer League was Bronny James, the son of Lakers star LeBron James. Fans across the world are excited to see Bronny — who was taken 55th by the Lakers in last month’s NBA Draft — potentially play with his father on the same court at the same time.

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If you’re one of the people who is jaded by this story, I have news for you: The biggest ovations I heard from summer-league crowds throughout my week in Las Vegas came when James did anything on the court. Whether he was attempting a shot or making a play on defense, the fans at the Thomas & Mack Center reacted to it in a way they simply did not for any other player. People are rooting for this to work in some way, shape or form.

I saw Bronny play live multiple times in Las Vegas and pored over the tape of the 150 minutes he played in his six games over the summer (the Lakers participated in the California Classic Summer League before heading to Vegas). Here’s a breakdown of how James performed, including the good, the bad, the ugly and what lies ahead.

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What were Bronny James’ stats during summer league?

The stats for James — a 6-foot, 1 1/2-inch guard with long arms and real athletic explosiveness — were not pretty. He averaged seven points while shooting 32.7 percent from the field, 13 percent from 3 and 62.5 percent from the free-throw line. He tallied 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists versus 1.8 turnovers. Defensively, he posted one steal per game and 0.8 blocks.

His last two games were important in boosting those numbers. In his fifth game, against Atlanta, James had 12 points and a rebound while shooting 5 of 11 from the field and making two of his five 3-point attempts. In his final game against Cleveland, he had 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field, plus five rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

In those first four games, however, James had 17 points in more than 100 minutes of action. He shot just 7 of 31 from the field, missing all 15 of his 3-point attempts. His seven turnovers equaled the number of shots he made.

You can look at this one of two ways. On the plus side, James improved throughout his six games and started to acclimate to the speed of the game. On the other hand, James started so catastrophically that the only way to go was up. Honestly, after the first four games, I’m just happy he looked like he belonged on the court in those final two contests, even if they weren’t necessarily standout performances.

What did Bronny James show on offense?

The numbers weren’t great, and there are questions about his role. However, there were interesting flashes of talent given he is still a teenager playing against a high level of competition.

As discussed pre-draft, James is not much of an on-ball creator as a guard. His off-the-bounce creativity and shiftiness doesn’t reach the NBA standard for a lead guard. He only moves with the ball in a straight line at this stage of his skill development. Rather, he’s more of a secondary ballhandler who can potentially turn into a 3-and-D style guard.

But James’ continued shooting problems were an issue in both California and Las Vegas. He made just three of his 23 3s.

James does have some touch, which he displayed at times. You can see how he has a chance to be a good shooter at some point. However, he has some mechanical issues to work out with his balance. Almost all his misses at summer league were short and off the front rim. The reason for that is two-fold. First, the rhythm through his jumper is not particularly fluid. His arms load up from the left side of his body and start away from his frame, which seems to throw the rest of his motion out of alignment. He doesn’t seem to generate a lot of power from the lower half of his body.

His load into his shot was often too slow, and he could stand to be more prepared to fire immediately upon catching the ball. The ball seems to come out of his hand softly, so I buy him eventually being able to hit a consistent number of 3s directly off the catch in spot-up situations, but his mechanics falter more when he gets run off of the line. When he feels sped up, his jumper can, at times, include a backward lean — this could be his way to try to get more arc given his lack of size. That also results in the ball coming up short and hitting the front of the rim.

Bronny was best on offense in transition and semi-transition. He was decisive in his choices, and his athletic tools played up there. The 11-second mark of the blow video offers a good example. James took an outlet pass from Colin Castleton, saw the Cavs didn’t have anyone concerning at the rim, drove with good bend to access his explosiveness and power and got leverage on Emoni Bates to score.

When James can get downhill in a straight line, he can turn the corner on his man and get to the rim. Here’s another example where the Lakers ran a dribble-handoff to get him moving before he touched the ball. I expect both the South Bay Lakers and Los Angeles Lakers to use James in a number of these of actions when he plays.

Bronny with the left 🔥 pic.twitter.com/k6wvrf4DrA

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) July 19, 2024

What did Bronny James show on defense?

This is the part of his game that, frankly, most disappointed me. There were some positives and flashes of strong play. However, despite his reputation for being a positive team defender, I felt like James impacted the Lakers negatively with his consistent lack of activity whenever his man did not have the ball. James was far too flat-footed when defending off the ball. Instead of being active and engaged in the action, he regularly got caught ball-watching and unprepared to stay attached to his man in actions or scramble-style help situations.

A great example of this came on the first possession in his fifth game against the Hawks, where the Lakers started him on sharp-shooter Moses Wood from Washington. Wood was a career 40.4 percent 3-point shooter on nearly 700 3-point attempts throughout his six-year collegiate career. He also played against James twice late in the 2023-24 season, including a Pac-12 tournament game in which he scored 17 points and drilled 5 of 7 from 3.

Given that experience, even in a summer-league-style environment, James should have a feel for how Wood played. The Hawks ran an elevator play for Wood to start the game, where he runs between two players who then come together for a double screen on his man. The key for defenders hoping to stop this action is to stay attached early and not lose touch with your man. But James loses track of where Wood is, letting the Hawks’ shooter get two steps ahead of him. That causes James to get caught between the screening elevator doors as they close.

Overall, James didn’t show enough attention to detail off the ball, something that will be essential to his success.

Later in the same game, James got caught ball-watching when he should be defending on the opposite side. He has his hands down at his waist and is not paying attention to what’s happening behind him. With Keaton Wallace (No. 22 on Atlanta) filtering through the play after his man helps on the backdoor cut, James is responsible for covering the 1-on-2 situation on the right side. But because he’s flat-footed and ball-watching, he reacts too late to the kickout pass and is a step late getting out to both shooters, leading to another Wood 3. The defensive breakdown isn’t James’ “fault” (teammate Maxwell Lewis getting beat backdoor is the cardinal sin), but he’s not available to help make up for it, either.

James also navigated screens poorly throughout his time in Las Vegas. On this play against Wallace, James was too flat-footed when trying to get through the first off-ball pick and doesn’t seem to recognize a second screen coming. He goes under that one, giving Wallace plenty of space to rise up to shoot. Again, he needs to show a greater degree of engagement.

I understand if this feels like nitpicking a teenager playing summer league for the first time. However, I bring these critiques up to illustrate the difficulty of James’ path to NBA minutes. He’s a small guard who, given comments by members of the Lakers’ organization, will be asked to derive most of his value on defense. If so, he has no margin for error, even with his length and strength. He cannot take possessions off. He needs to be active and engaged at all times. He’s not providing enough offensive value to make average defensive play tenable. Off-ball defense and instincts are non-negotiables for him, and he too often treated those areas like they was a given in summer league.

And yet, I saw some positive flashes on the ball in isolation situations. New coach JJ Redick recently said he would love to see James ramp up the ball pressure and be something of a Lu Dort clone. There are several reasons I think that comparison is faulty, especially when comparing the two at similar ages, but I understand a coach preaching his hope for Bronny to fill that role. Dort is a good player for James to watch.

Here’s a good possession from James against standout Rockets rookie guard Reed Sheppard, who generally gave James and the rest of the Lakers fits. On this possession, however, James picked up Sheppard full court and made his life tough. Then, he got into the pocket and stole a pass to the roller, starting a fast break. Notice how James kept his hand right in the pocket, making it hard for Sheppard to complete that pass.

James also showed his defensive athleticism a few different times. One moment where that stood out was in a transition opportunity against Boston, when he blew up a 3-on-1 fast break by backpedaling quickly and elevating with real explosiveness.

Bronny James with the excellent defensive play to break up the Celtics fastbreak 💪🚫

📺 BOS-LAL in Vegas on NBA TV pic.twitter.com/FBUfPwQuow

— NBA (@NBA) July 16, 2024

With his athleticism and 6-foot-7 wingspan, James does have potential to be a defensive playmaker. If he can continue to improve his awareness and engagement, he has the potential to be a defensive difference-maker. But, again, his margin for error here is zero.

What does all of this mean for James?

I rated James as the No. 72 player in a draft class that I did not consider all that deep, especially once you get past the top-60 players. That was equivalent to a fringe two-way/Exhibit-10 contract grade. After his play at summer league, that seems about right. He finished outside of the top 170 in scoring at the event, with only nine players in Las Vegas averaging fewer points per game while playing at least 25 minutes per night. Most of those players who finished beneath him were either high-level distributors such as Brooklyn’s Jacob Gilyard and Miami’s Isaiah Stevens, or defense-first guys like Phoenix first-round pick Ryan Dunn. James theoretically projects as the latter, but as discussed, he’s not consistently there yet.

Honestly, he looked like a player who wasn’t quite ready for this level of action. He’s definitely a project, which we knew. After all, he was one of the younger players in attendance. Most teenagers aren’t ready for this level of play; even No. 2 overall pick Alex Sarr struggled to score in a significant way in Las Vegas.

The good news for James is the Lakers are committed to him for three guaranteed years as a rostered player, which will hopefully allow him to grow at his own pace. We can certainly quibble about whether he’s worth such a commitment (I don’t think he is). His upside is as a rotational, undersized 3-and-D guard, a role that sees a substantial number of players come through the draft ranks every year. Summer-league events are littered with such players every season, including Isaiah Miller (Grizzlies), D’Moi Hodge (Spurs), Adonis Arms (Kings) and 2024 undrafted free agent Zyon Pullin (Heat).

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Typically, the clock runs out on those players in their first stops before they can establish themselves. Sometimes, the clock runs out on the NBA full-scale, and they end up overseas before maturing to their highest potential. However, if Bronny is going to find success, the Lakers offer the exact type of situation that he needs to have a chance. Being the son of an all-time great who currently plays for the organization that drafted you has its benefits.

More than anything, what summer league showed is that Bronny James needed an organization that was going to invest in him. At the very least, the Lakers have done that.

(Photo: Candice Ward / Getty Images)