Los Angeles Lakers draftee Bronny James played his first road game in the G League and managed to score 30 points, and that is a big deal.
James, who was selected at No. 55 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft, had scored just 4 points across 7 games when suiting up for the Lakers. But with the South Bay Lakers in the G League, he would have more opportunity to actually develop and play real minutes with the ball in his hands.
He made the most of the opportunity, as 30 points against pros is no small accomplishment. But it is also entirely out of character for his playing style and archetype.
With help from Cerebro Sports, we looked at every game that Bronny has played tracked in their database since had just turned 15 years old.
That spans 115 matches across high school at Sierra Canyon, AAU tournaments with his team Strive For Greatness, various other competition including the California Basketball Club in France, and college.
During that fairly large sample size, mostly against high schoolers, Bronny has averaged 8.1 points per game. While his defense has always impressed scouts, no one would call LeBron’s son a certified bucket.
BRONNY JAMES: Scouting him in 2022 taught me that his defense will be what could get him a shot in the NBA
In fact, across those first 114 games before last night, he had only exceeded 20 points in just 5 instances. It happened twice at Peach Jam while playing AAU basketball for Nike EYBL in 2022, twice with California Basketball Club, and once at Sierra Canyon at the Les Schwab Invitational.
At every step, he always played with elite talent in more of an off-ball role. This helps in some ways, but it means that unlike Gilbert Arenas’ son Alijah, he has never had the chance to run his own offense.
His career-high at USC was just 15 points, although he was recovering from cardiac arrest that delayed the start of his only collegiate campaign.
Even before the health score, though, a 30-point game was fairly unheard of for Bronny. He had done it just once before, dropping 31 points for CBC at the GEICO Top Flight Invite in 2022. For further evidence of how rare that type of scoring was, though, he had just 4 points in the very next game.
Basketball is a game that requires confidence and for Bronny, it matters to see the ball go through that net. It was a low pressure environment in the G League, but that is exactly the kind of atmosphere where he can thrive so he feels ready for the toughest competition at the next level.
While he didn’t do it against an NBA team, he was able to keep up against some legitimately real competition.
The Valley Suns have TyTy Washington Jr., who was a first-round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft and made SEC All-Freshman at Kentucky. They have Jalen Bridges, one of the top undrafted free agents in the 2024 NBA Draft who was a standout at NBA 2K25 Summer League.
He also stood out in a game that featured Mamadi Diakite (a former NCAA and G League champion who has earned G League All-Defensive honors), Jaden Shackelford (who won a title in the G League last year) as well as Cassius Stanley (a former top recruit also from Sierra Canyon).
Bronny had 14 possessions for South Bay in that game as the pick-and-roll ball handler and 6 more one-on-one against his defender in isolation, via Synergy. For comparison, he had just 19 possessions as the PnR ball handler and 9 in iso during his 25 games at USC.
South Bay put the ball in his hands and he made the most of the opportunity. Is that sustainable? That much is unclear, but any prediction between unlikely and cautiously optimistic is fair.
For his growth potential, however, these reps are invaluable and could go a long way to increase the likelihood of his longevity in the NBA.
There is still a long way to go until Bronny is ready to make a really positive impact in the league, if he ever does at all, but moments like last night make that feel far more attainable.
