Bronny James has typically been on cleanup duty for the Los Angeles Lakers. When available for the game, the younger member of the James family has typically seen minutes during the late stages of blowouts, either in favor or against the Lakers. Tuesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers was different.
James was deployed earlier into what wound up being a hefty 118-104 loss to the 76ers. The final score hides the fact that this game was a blowout in Philadelphia's favor long before it was over.
Bronny played 15 minutes in this ball game. The rookie guard finished the contest with zero points, shooting 0-5 from the field, three rebounds, one assist, one block, and three turnovers. Despite some strong performances with the South Bay Lakers, James struggled to give Los Angeles a needed punch off the bench, finishing as a -8 in the box plus/minus.
JJ Redick reveals strategy with playing Bronny early
Lakers head coach JJ Redick was bound to face questions as to what went into the decision to deploy James when he did. Redick was open and candid with his response to the media at the postgame press conference.
"[I] just felt like on a back to back, just him giving us energy was the goal. I maybe put him in a tough spot, flying up yesterday and (0:16) nationally televised game in Philly and all that stuff. He didn't play well, but he's been playing great in the stay ready games and he's been playing great in the G [League], so I have confidence in him, but obviously didn't provide that at a high level."JJ Redick
To the point of the Lakers head coach, Bronny has been performing admirably in the G League. It was only a few days ago that James dropped a career-high 31 points, shooting 10-22 from the field and 5-11 from beyond the arc, in a 122-110 win over the Rip City Remix.
Perhaps that offered some considerable hope that Bronny was ready to contribute some rotational minutes off the bench in the NBA. However, it appears there is still more work to be done before James can reliably be counted upon by Los Angeles.