Bronny James had a sneaky opportunity for rotational minutes lessened when the Los Angeles Lakers went out and acquired Marcus Smart after his buyout from the Washington Wizards. Bronny will instead get a chance to learn from a mold of veteran that should aid his growth tremendously.
James understands the skill that will earn him serious looks at playing time will undoubtedly be his defense. The second-year guard has said as much in the past. Smart may make it more difficult to crack the rotation now, but his tutelage will help the long-term outlook for Bronny.
This topic was broached during a Q&A session on a recent episode of Buha's Block. It was highlighted how great it would be for Smart to elevate James on the defensive end. Jovan Buha completely agreed with the sentiment.
Buha said, "Marcus is the type of player that Bronny should aspire to be like. ... His way onto the floor is to be a better shooter than Gabe [Vincent] and/or be a better defender than Gabe. If he can do one of those two things, that's the real path to his minutes. ... Learning from Smart is as good as it gets."
Marcus Smart blueprint could shape Bronny James’ Lakers future
Buha thought it was important to focus on the defense, considering the amount of high usage players on the Lakers who will deny James a proper opportunity to be on the ball too often. There are a lot of mouths to feed offensively in Los Angeles, both in terms of the stars and the role players.
Despite Vincent's struggles with the Lakers, there is still a belief that his experience and more polished game gives him the edge over James in the short-term when it comes to rotational minutes. If Bronny were to beat him out, that would be viewed as exceeding expectations in 2025-26.
Regardless of whether James sees a ton of the court at the NBA level this season, there should be a desire to soak up every bit of knowledge that Smart has to offer when it comes to successfully challenging his matchups. The new Lakers guard is a former Defensive Player of the Year after all.
Smart has never been shy about challenging his matchups with relentless energy and tenacity. Offensive players have been forced to work hard for any little bit they can get.
JJ Redick has previously asked James to focus on conditioning, likely hoping the Lakers guard can have a similar impact hounding his matchups. Getting an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of what to do with that elite shape from Smart should be a big step forward in Bronny's development.