With one last Summer League game to play against the Chicago Bulls tonight, the Los Angeles Lakers are making some calculated decisions on who to play – including a big one on second-round pick Bronny James.
According to Mike Trudell, the Lakers are set to rest not only Bronny but first-round pick Dalton Knecht and second-year player Maxwell Lewis. Per the report, it’s a team decision based on the volume of minutes they’ve received over the past few weeks.
“Dalton Knecht, Bronny James and Maxwell Lewis will not play in today’s final summer league game in Vegas vs. Chicago. It’s a team medical decision based on volume of practices and games throughout the Cali Classic and Las Vegas,” Trudell wrote.
If Bronny is done with basketball games until the NBA or NBA G League season then he’s ending his preseason on a fairly high note. In their 93-80 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday, Bronny had 13 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Fans all agree that if Bronny and Knecht aren’t playing, there’s nothing compelling about the game to sit and watch. More feel that load management in the Summer League is simply a bad idea.
“Welp we ain’t watching then,” one user replied to Trudell.
“Load managing rookies on the final day of Summer League when they won’t play a game again until October is unbelievable. Fans are still paying for tickets today in Vegas, right?” wrote another.
“Load managing non lottery picks in summer league is crazy,” a third wrote.
Do you think Bronny should be playing tonight?
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