Los Angeles Lakers rookie point guard Bronny James had a big night, in a big loss.
During L.A.'s preseason finale, a 132-74 blowout road loss to the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, the 6-foot-2 former USC Trojans product made his first-ever start for the franchise in a preseason bout.
The Lakers opted to sit starters LeBron James, Anthony Davis, D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, and Rui Hachimura, plus No. 17 rookie draft pick Dalton Knecht and veteran reserve guards Gabe Vincent and Max Christie. Injured big men Christian Wood, Jarred Vanderbilt, and two-way signing Christian Koloko all missed out, too.
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Lakers head coach JJ Redick started the undersized younger James at small forward. His first five was rounded out by former lottery picks Cam Reddish and Jaxson Hayes, now on minimum deals and unlikely to make much of a dent in L.A.'s fully healthy rotation, plus 2023 first round pick Jalen Hood-Schifino and newly-promoted two-way signing Quincy Olivari in the backcourt.
Despite the 58-point defeat, James equipped himself reasonably well — at least, as a scorer.
Across 35:19, the 20-year-old guard, son of All-NBA combo forward LeBron, scored 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the field (1-of-5 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc) and 2-of-2 shooting from the charity stripe, along with four rebounds, three steals, one block and one dime.
It was his best performance of the preseason by far. The younger James hadn't scored double digit points in any of his prior five exhibition contests. Across his six games with Los Angeles this preseason, James averaged 4.2 points on .297/.083/.500 shooting splits, 1.7 rebounds, 0.8 blocks and 0.5 steals in 16.2 minutes per.
"Tonight I was given an opportunity to go showcase my offensive game," James said of the big moment, per Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. "And I did that a little bit. So I feel like my confidence, I feel like that's the biggest thing for me right now."
Using the No. 55 pick in June's 2024 NBA Draft, Los Angeles took a chance on James after an underwhelming one-and-done 2023-24 freshman season for the USC Trojans.
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"All the moments are building blocks. Not just the good moments. The bad moments are learning opportunities," head coach JJ Redick said.
Los Angeles will hold a pair of practices prior to its Tuesday regular season debut against the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves. Redick expressed optimism that the club wouldn't be caught unawares, despite its poor showing Friday.
"Our group is ready to play," Redick said. "As a whole, we've built the foundation."
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