{"id":588225,"date":"2026-04-06T02:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T02:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/588225\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T02:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T02:29:10","slug":"will-bronny-james-start-for-the-lakers-how-austin-reaves-luka-doncic-injuries-impacts-lebron-james-sons-playing-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/588225\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Bronny James start for the Lakers? How Austin Reaves, Luka Doncic injuries impacts LeBron James\u2019 son\u2019s playing time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lakers<\/a> are in crisis, having seen two of its greatest talents — Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves<\/a> — land in the treatment room with injuries to their hamstring and oblique, respectively.<\/p>\n

There’s never a good time for injuries. But Doncic and Reaves’ ailments are especially untimely at this time of the year for a Los Angeles roster that hoped to contend for a Western Conference Finals appearance — if not more.<\/p>\n

With Doncic and Reaves out of commission, Lakers head coach JJ Redick will have to get creative. How does one replace their level of production in-house? Some have queried that Redick could turn to a famous name to help Los Angeles get back on track: Bronny James.<\/p>\n

With that, here’s how Doncic and Reaves’ injuries could affect James’ minutes.<\/p>\n

SN’s NBA HQ:\u00a0Live NBA scores<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Updated NBA standings<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Full NBA schedule<\/a><\/p>\n

Will Bronny James start for Lakers?<\/p>\n

With Reaves and Doncic wrapped in gauze, the question remains: will James ascend to the starting lineup in the coming few weeks?<\/p>\n

As of April 5, James has two starts in his illustrious career. He stands to see increasingly more minutes with Reaves, Doncic and Smart sidelined. That might not be reflected in his start totals, however.<\/p>\n

The Lakers hold just a half game advantage over the Nuggets<\/a> for third-place in the Western Conference. They haven’t shown a desire to give James opportunities for much of his two-year career. It’s hard to imagine they’ll show enough faith to offer him starts in the stretch run.<\/p>\n

Expect Redick to put the ball in LeBron James’ hands with Doncic and Reaves away. Luke Kennard will likely slot into the two-guard spot, while Rui Hachimura figures to rise to the starting five in Doncic’s absence. Jake LaRavia and Deandre Ayton are likely to round out the starting five.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0How Luka Doncic\u2019s hamstring injury impacts Lakers playoff picture<\/a><\/p>\n

How many games has Bronny James started?<\/p>\n

As of April 2, James has tallied just\u00a0two starts\u00a0in his career. He started the final game of the 2024-25 season. He also landed a start in the Lakers’ Nov. 15 duel with the Bucks<\/a>. He played just 10 minutes in that contest, so a start doesn’t necessarily mean James will get starter minutes.<\/p>\n

Lakers guard depth chart<\/p>\n

Kennard is the likeliest guard to leap into the starting lineup as the season nears its crescendo. Smart, too, should earn some shine — particularly once he returns from his ankle injury.<\/p>\n

PGSGLuke KennardMarcus Smart – OUTBronny JamesLuke KennardKobe BufkinJake LaRaviaMarcus Smart – OUTDalton KnechtNick Smith Jr.Bronny James<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0What did LeBron James say about the city of Memphis?<\/a><\/p>\n

Bronny James season stats<\/p>\n

Here’s a look at James’ numbers in his second season in Tinseltown.<\/p>\n

37 games2.4\u00a0points per game0.5 rebounds per game1.1 assists per game0.3 steals per game0.1\u00a0blocks per game0.5 turnovers per game39.1 percent field goal shooting37.5 percent 3-point shooting85.7\u00a0percent free throw shooting\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lakers are in crisis, having seen two of its greatest talents — Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-588225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}