The Los Angeles Lakers elected to rest Bronny James, Dalton Knecht and Maxwell Lewis in their Las Vegas Summer League finale Saturday against the Chicago Bulls for medical reasons, according to sideline reporter Mike Trudell. While they did not have specific injuries that needed rehabilitation, the Lakers played more summer league games than most of the teams in Las Vegas because they also participated in the California Classic ahead of time. They therefore decided that they had seen enough and shut some of their highest-profile young players down.
That decision ended a tumultuous summer league for James. The son of NBA legend LeBron James, Bronny missed his first 15 3-pointers as a Laker and generally struggled quite a bit on offense. He made up for it in his final two games, though, scoring 25 combined points and flashing some of the defensive upside that made him an appealing professional prospect.
"He had two pretty good games last two," Lakers summer league coach Dane Johnson told reporters Saturday. "I think it's just going to help him going into the summer so we can work on different things with him. Just that confidence and knowing he can play at this level. It's still going to take a lot of time and a lot of reps."
James, though he is under a guaranteed NBA contract and has a roster spot on the Lakers, will now likely prepare to spend much of his rookie season playing in the G League. Though he ended summer league on a high note, his overall performance was still uneven to say the least. His jumper is still far away from being viable at the NBA level, and his handle needs work as well if he is going to create his own shots.
From that perspective, summer league may be the most of James that NBA fans will see for a little while. Though he will likely make spot appearances off of the bench for the Lakers, he is still very much a project. Summer league was a step in the right direction, but now that it's over, he's going to have to put in the quiet work it takes to become an NBA-caliber player.
