Lakers News: How many points did Bronny James score in LA’s first start against the Warriors?

Los Angeles Lakers rookie point guard Bronny James had a big night in a big loss.

During the preseason finale in LA, a 132-74 road loss to the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, the 6-foot-2 former USC Trojans player made his first start for the franchise in a preseason contest.

The Lakers chose sitting starters LeBron James, Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura, as well as No. 17 rookie draft pick Dalton Knecht and veteran reserve guards Gabe Vincent and Max Christie. Injured big players Christian Wood, Jarred Vanderbilt and two-way freshman Christian Koloko also missed the game.

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Lakers head coach JJ Redick started the undersized younger James at small forward. Rounding out his top five were former lottery picks Cam Reddish and Jaxson Hayes, who are now on minimal deals and unlikely to make much of an impact on LA’s fully healthy rotation, as well as 2023 first-round pick Jalen Hood-Schifino and the newly promoted two-way player signing of Quincy Olivari in the backcourt.

Despite the 58-point loss, James was in reasonably good shape – at least as a scorer.

Over the course of 35:19, the 20-year-old guard, son of All-NBA combo forward LeBron, scored 17 points on 7 of 17 shots from the field (1 of 5 shots from beyond the 3-point arc). and 2-of-2 shooting from the charity stripe, along with four rebounds, three steals, a block and a dime.

It was by far his best performance of the preseason. The younger James had not scored double figures in any of his previous five exhibition contests. In his six games with Los Angeles this preseason, James averaged 4.2 points on .297/.083/.500 shooting splits, 1.7 rebounds, 0.8 blocks and 0.5 steals in 16.2 minutes per game .

“Tonight I had the opportunity to showcase my offensive game,” James said of the big moment, according to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times. “And I did that a little bit. I feel like my confidence is the biggest thing for me right now.”

With the number 55 pick in the June 2024 NBA draft, Los Angeles took a chance on James after the 2023/24 freshman season was disappointing for the USC Trojans.

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“All moments are building blocks. Not just the good moments. The bad moments are learning opportunities,” said head coach JJ Redick.

Los Angeles will hold two practices before its regular-season debut Tuesday against the newly minted Minnesota Timberwolves. Redick expressed optimism that the club would not be caught off guard despite its poor performance on Friday.

“Our group is ready to play,” Redick said. “Overall, we have laid the foundation.”

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