Bronny James demonstrated his ongoing improvement in Summer League, further showing he’s headed in the right direction.
Bronny James was selected 55th overall in the 2024 draft, with topics such as nepotism and whether he even earned a guaranteed contract dominating headlines at the time.
Fast forward to today, and many of those narratives have been put to rest. The 20-year-old showed a canyon-sized difference in confidence from a year ago in Summer League, displaying the improvement in skills you hoped — and expected — to see after his first season.
Going into his rookie year, while still recovering from a cardiac issue that had shortened his one-and-done college season at USC, he came in as a tentative player on the offensive end in the G League. That changed as the season progressed as his shot and aggression increased, eventually making him the team’s go-to option.
Bronny averaged 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.9 steals for South Bay last season. He shot 38% from three on a high volume of 8.4 attempts per game. The rounded-out offensive repertoire showed its progress in Vegas.
Listed at 6’3” and with aspirations of being an on-ball guard, a lot of his NBA success hinges on the strength of a pull-up jump shot. He demonstrated various ways he’s improved to create separation and score off the bounce.
Watch as he catches the ball in the corner on the play below and uses a triple-threat jab to get to his step-back crossover.
The handle shown above is much tighter than it was a year ago, allowing for not just isolation scoring but navigating out of ball screens. In the clip below, he comes off the dribble hand off and hits No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg with a hesitation step back for the mid-range jumper.
His ceiling has risen as a scorer, but the floor still needs work. Bronny shot just 30% from 3-point range in Vegas and needs to improve to find a better balance with the tough shots he takes.
Bronny finished second on the team in assists, exhibiting a better understanding of how to not only read defenses but manipulate them as point guards need to. He ran many pick and rolls with fellow South Bay teammate Christian Koloko, finding him with nifty passes like the one below.
He comes off the ball screen, engages the big man with a fake pass over the top and softly drops the bounce pass to spoon-feed Koloko for the dunk.
Bronny finished with 15 assists and 16 turnovers in Vegas, a ratio that still needs improvement. However, the game is slowing down for him and the repetitions in the G League have added to his playmaking skills.
He finished Las Vegas Summer League averaging 14.3 points and 3.8 assists while shooting 47% from the field. In the final game, he put up 18 points and five assists in a loss to the Boston Celtics.
The numbers don’t fully capture Bronny’s main advantage currently, which is his athleticism and power at the guard position. He was able to blow by ball pressure, attacking the rim with force as players bounced right off of him.
His natural burst emerges during transition, flying to the rim off live-ball turnovers. Summer League is a place where you want to see as many strengths as possible for a second-year player, and the athletic gap between him and his position was noticeable.
Here, he uses his speed to steal the ball and races ahead for the dunk as his defender could do nothing but watch.
What Bronny may lack in height, he makes up for with strength. The Lakers assigned him to Flagg in their marquee matchup against the Mavericks and he helped hold him to a 5-21 shooting performance.
While surrendering six inches in height, Bronny is listed five pounds heavier than the Duke standout. He leverages his strength and 6’7” wingspan to stonewall the star prospect below and get a deflection, before being whistled for a late loose-ball foul.
The defensive engagement, as with most young players, is still up and down but the summer showed promising signs on that end.
There are still many hurdles to overcome before Bronny is likely to become a full-time NBA rotation player. The shot selection and pass decisions still need work and the typical 3-and-D guard profile doesn’t seem to be the road he’s on as he’s being groomed for an eventual on-ball role.
Whether that’s the right path is uncertain and likely pushes back his timeline to become a contributor, given that it’s arguably the most challenging position in the league to learn. That said, his athleticism and strength are real advantages and his work ethic has contributed to enormous improvement on both ends from just a year ago.
If he continues on this linear path, the future is bright and everyone will laugh about the conversations had when he was drafted.
You can follow Raj on Twitter at @RajChipalu