Bronny James makes impressive G League debut by scoring 6 points with South Bay Lakers

Bronny James made his G League debut with the South Bay Lakers, contributing six points in a 110-96 victory over the Salt Lake City Stars on Saturday in El Segundo, California.

James — the 20-year-old son of LeBron James — was 2-for-9 from the field, including 0-for-4 on 3-pointers. The 6-foot-3 guard also had three rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot.

LeBron watched the game from courtside seats on the opposite side of the main stands with his wife, Savannah, and their 10-year old daughter Zuri. Gloria James, Bronny’s grandmother, also was in attendance, along with Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka.

LeBron and Lakers coach J.J. Redick have said repeatedly Bronny will spend ample time this season in the G League as he works on his game. The Lakers affiliate plays its games at the team’s training complex.

Bronny has played in five games for the Lakers, scoring four points in 14 combined minutes of action. He was in for the final 1:28 of the Lakers 116-106 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers Friday night.

LeBron and Bronny made NBA history on Oct. 22 when they became the first father and son to play together during the Lakers’ season-opening win over Minnesota.

Saturday marked the most action Bronny has had in a game since the Lakers’ preseason finale against Golden State on Oct. 18, when he played 35 minutes and scored 15 points.

Bronny scored on his initial possession, hitting a pull-up jumper 43 seconds into the game. His other basket was a floater in the lane during the second quarter.

He also had a free throw in the fourth quarter. The G League has an experimental free-throw rule this season where one foul shot could be worth two or three points for any foul not during the last two minutes that would typically result in two or three free throws being shot.

Late in the first quarter, Bronny had a nifty lob pass to Kylor Kelley for an alley-oop.

Midway through the second quarter, Bronny partially blocked Isaiah Wong’s layup before Quincy Olivari grabbed the rebound. Maxwell Lewis finished with a 3-pointer on the other end of the court to put the Lakers up 40-28.

The younger James was the 55th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft in June after averaging 4.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in 25 games for Southern California last season.