Former USC Trojans guard Bronny James completed his rookie season with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers drafted James in the second round with the No. 55 overall pick, giving him the chance to play with his father, LeBron James.
The Lakers lost in the NBA playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves, concluding the 2024-2025 season. After the playoff loss, the NBA star spoke about the opportunity to play with his son this season, ranking it No. 1 of anything he has done in his career.
“No. 1. For sure. That’s easy. It’s not even close,” James said. “To be able to play the game that I love and to be able to be along my song this whole year has been one of the most gratifying, satisfying journeys I’ve ever been on.”
“To get on the floor with him in preseason for the first time, I believe it was in Palm Springs, I believe. To get on the court versus this Minnesota team, game one,” James said.
The two became the first father-son duo to play in an NBA game together. The former Trojan has had to overcome several setbacks in the past couple of years. Between suffering from cardiac arrest during his time at USC, to loud negativity in the media as a rookie, James showed much growth as a rookie.
In the offseason, James plans on working on ways to block out the criticism, acknowledging that it did affect him in year one. James was under pressure throughout the season to perform despite being a second-round pick. Much of the scrutiny had to do with the idea that he was only drafted because of his father.
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The Lakers star highlighted being able to watch his son grow this past year as a person and a player.
“Just to see his growth from the moment he was drafted when we were all in New York at the draft party, to seeing him the summer league, struggle early on in the summer league, and pick it up towards the end,” James said.
“And just to see what he was able to do every single day by just channeling his mind and his work, just putting in the work and just seeing how much he grew from, like I said, the moment from when he was drafted to doing what he was doing in the G, getting opportunities with us.”
In his rookie season, James split his time between the NBA and the G League with the South Bay Lakers. With South Bay, James played 11 games, starting in each of them. He averaged 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.9 steals. While he may not have played in every game, when he was on the court, he put on a strong performance.
James finished his rookie season with the Lakers averaging 2.3 points, 0.7 rebounds, 0.8 assists, and a 31.3 field goal percentage. He averaged just 6.7 minutes but earned his first start in the final game of the regular season. James’ best game was against the Milwaukee Bucks, playing 30 minutes and scoring 17 points with five assists and three rebounds.
James will be returning to the summer league in 2025 to continue developing ahead of year two.
“Super proud of the shortcomings that he had when we played in Philly. I thought that built so much character and it showed when we sat out a lot of guys at that home game when we played Milwaukee. I just thought that he has a bright future because not only can he play the game of basketball,” James.
