Bronny James made his debut with his other team on Saturday, suiting up for the G League South Bay Lakers’ season opener in front of a sellout crowd.
Some of those fans included his father LeBron, the rest of their family and teammate Anthony Davis.
As for James’ performance against the Salt Lake City Stars, it was a quiet night. The second-round pick finished with six points on 2-of-9 shooting (0-for-4 from 3-point range) with four assists, three rebounds and five turnovers. He was minus-one in a 110-96 South Bay win.
The most productive players for South Bay were undrafted free agent Quincy Olivari with 28 points, 10 rebounds and six assists and Maxwell Lewis with 27 points.
It was the first of many games James would play for South Bay while moving between the NBA and G-League. It was reported earlier this week that the plan is for him to essentially be a homegrown player for South Bay, playing games for the team when they are at the UCLA Health Training Center and joining the Los Angeles Lakers when the another team is one. the road
It’s about as exciting a gig as a G League player can get, which isn’t surprising given that no G League player has the kind of leverage behind them that James does. The Lakers have made it clear that James’ development is a long-term project, and most of the minutes the effort requires will come in the South Bay.
