{"id":271058,"date":"2025-11-09T00:50:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T00:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/271058\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T00:50:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T00:50:12","slug":"bronny-james-shows-his-improvement-for-shorthanded-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/271058\/","title":{"rendered":"Bronny James shows his improvement for shorthanded Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ATLANTA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The play brought the entire Lakers<\/a> bench to its feet. Austin Reaves<\/a>\u2019 sky-high lob pass and Bronny James<\/a>\u2019 two-handed dunk brought a roar from the crowd.<\/p>\n

The emphatic dunk against Miami was James\u2019 first points of the season, but he saw them as just two more in what he hopes will be a long NBA journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just a regular moment for me,\u201d James said, not even having to conceal a smile after the Lakers\u2019 shootaround Saturday, almost a week after the highlight. \u201c… I want to continue to do that, but I just have to keep giving my all, keep playing hard, running in transition and getting stops on the defensive end for my team.\u201d<\/p>\n

James is trying to make his contributions, both big and small, regular occurrences for the shorthanded Lakers as they continue to dig into their bench.<\/p>\n

Reaves will miss his third consecutive game Saturday as the Lakers begin a five-game road trip against the Atlanta Hawks. Imaging revealed a mild strain in Reaves\u2019 right groin, coach JJ Redick said Saturday, but the guard\u2019s pain is \u201creally low,\u201d and the team continues to hold him out as a precaution. Reaves is with the team on the road \u2014 and has a golf outing planned with James and Redick for an upcoming off day \u2014 and could return during the trip. <\/p>\n

James has played in each of the last three games with Reaves out, including 18 and 19 minutes in wins over Miami and Portland, respectively. He was trusted in pressure fourth-quarter situations in both victories and finished with three steals against the Heat. He delivered six assists with no turnovers the following night against the Trail Blazers while also scoring five points as the Lakers won without Reaves, LeBron James<\/a> or Luka Doncic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cReady to take advantage of the times that I get when our guys are out,\u201d James said. \u201cI\u2019m going to stay aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each appearance is a step as the 21-year-old fights to become a regular rotation player. To get there, Redick said the former USC guard needs to start by pushing himself physically, being a disruptive defender and developing as a confident spot-up shooter.<\/p>\n

James said his main focus is on \u201cgoing out until I\u2019m dead tired.\u201d He earned Redick\u2019s approval for playing hard.<\/p>\n

When James first joined the Lakers last year as their second-round pick, Redick recalled the rookie would receive a pass during pickup games, pause, dribble or attempt unnecessary moves. It was \u201cthe opposite of point-five mentality,\u201d Redick said, referencing the idea that players should decide to shoot, dribble or pass within 0.5 seconds of receiving the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s now developed where he\u2019s got a great point-five mentality,\u201d Redick said before the Lakers played Portland Nov. 3. \u201cHe\u2019s catch-and-shoot ready at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers guard Bronny James throws down a two-handed dunk against the Heat last Sunday.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

James made a critical three in the fourth quarter against Portland to put the Lakers up by five. He credited his time with the South Bay Lakers and working with player development coach Ty Abbott for helping him get comfortable with split-second decisions.<\/p>\n

With fellow point guard Nick Smith Jr. on a two-way contract, it\u2019s likely that Smith will handle more on-ball responsibilities during G League assignments this season, Redick said, giving James chances to develop his off-ball game.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s only if James, who is on a standard contract, ever goes to South Bay. The injured Lakers might need him more on their bench.<\/p>\n

Guard Gabe Vincent has missed seven games because of a sprained ankle, but is progressing during on-court work with assistant coach Lindsey Harding. Vincent has not worked through contact or one-on-one drills; he was projected to be out for two to four weeks, but Redick estimated he will be out for closer to three, which could put him on track to return after the five-game trip wraps in Milwaukee on Nov. 15. <\/p>\n

LeBron James will be reevaluated in one to two weeks after progressing to contact activity, beginning with one-on-one work with coaches. The 40-year-old did not join the team on the road for the start of the trip that next winds through Charlotte, Oklahoma City, New Orleans and Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

South Bay roster set<\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 G League team set its roster Saturday for opening night, featuring two-way players Smith, who scored 25 points in the victory over the Trail Blazers last week, Christian Koloko and Chris Ma\u00f1on. Also on the squad are Jace Carter, Jarron Cumberland, RJ Davis, Luke Goode, Tevian Jones, Kylor Kelley, Arthur Kaluma, Augustas Mar\u010diulionis, Drew Timme and Anton Watson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The play brought the entire Lakers bench to its feet. Austin Reaves\u2019 sky-high lob pass and Bronny James\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,2176,35713,45845,97316,61706,5407,51819,12887,76066,7480,97317,459,6002,95939,82,97318,1722],"class_list":["post-271058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-end","tag-floor","tag-gabe-vincent","tag-hectic-offseason","tag-laker","tag-lakers","tag-little-bit","tag-luka-doncic","tag-maxi-kleber","tag-month","tag-national-team","tag-nba","tag-phoenix-suns","tag-redick","tag-sports","tag-third-day","tag-training-camp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}