Bronny James appears to be on a similar plan with the Los Angeles Lakers this season as he was during his rookie campaign after being assigned to the South Bay Lakers in the G League this week.
On the latest episode of his YouTube show (starts at 50:45 mark), NBA insider Jovan Buha explained that James could be “bouncing back and forth” between the NBA and G League this season.
The Lakers announced on Thursday that James would be joining their G League squad. It does allow the 21-year-old to get live game reps while Los Angeles has an extended break with no game until Saturday after Tuesday’s win over the Utah Jazz.
Their next home game isn’t until Nov. 25 when they host the Los Angeles Clippers. That will mark the start of a four-game stretch at Crypto.com Arena for the Lakers.
Buha also added that Lakers head coach JJ Redick doesn’t currently have James in his main rotation, especially now that LeBron is back in the fold after missing the first 14 games, so anything that allows him to get consistent work will only help him.
This is similar to what the Lakers did with Bronny last season as he bounced between the NBA and G League. He appeared in 27 games with the main squad and seven with South Bay.
Bronny has made 10 appearances with Los Angeles to start this season. He played a season-high 20 minutes in a 122-108 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Oct. 27. He’s averaging 2.1 points and 1.8 assists per game.
The second-year guard could make his season debut for South Bay on Friday night when the team hosts the Santa Cruz Warriors.
