For a couple of years, people anticipated Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, coming into the NBA. This past October, the moment officially came, and it was a historic one, as he and his father became the first father-son duo in league history to take the court at the same time during a game.
While the younger James did next to nothing in the playing time he got with the Los Angeles Lakers, he showed plenty of promise in the G League and in July’s Las Vegas summer league. There are now a good number of people who believe or even expect that he can receive a spot in the Lakers’ rotation this coming season.
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In a recent interview, the 20-year-old admitted that he was nervous for his NBA debut, but he also admitted that it was a fun experience for him.
“It was nuts. It was crazy. It was a crazy experience to be a part of, but like the nervousness. It was out of the roof… I wasn’t shaking, but you know, I was ready to go out and play, but it’s different when your dad’s on the team. You got expectations. The Lakers, franchise has expectations. Yeah for sure, I’m a basketball head, so it was fun to just be out there and step on an NBA floor for the first time. It was crazy.”
There was a lot of hate directed at the elder James at the time for apparently funneling his son into the league when many believed the latter didn’t belong in the league. But the younger James averaged 21.9 points, 5.5 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.9 steals a game and shot 38% from 3-point range during the G League regular season, which gave plenty of people some tangible hope that he can, indeed, make it as an NBA rotation player.
From this point on, the nerves should be gone for him, and Lakers assistant coach Nate McMillan said recently that the guard’s more relaxed demeanor during summer league play in July led to him shooting the basketball better.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Bronny James admits how nervous he was for his first NBA game