Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick believes Bronny James’ confidence is slowly but surely growing after the youngster scored a season-high 17 points against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday.
The Lakers suffered a 118-89 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks at the Crypto.com arena but James Jr.’s performance was the silver lining for the team.
Bronny could not hit the ground running in the NBA and struggled to find his rhythm. However, with South Bay, Bronny averaged 20.6 points on 43.1% shooting (36.1% from 3), 5.0 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.8 steals in 33.5 minutes in nine games in the G League.
LeBron’s son scored 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting and added five assists, three rebounds and a block in 30 minutes of playing time.
“Not surprised by tonight,” Redick said of Bronny. “I think his confidence is growing … I think the next step is just becoming an elite-conditioned athlete. Because when does that, with his physical tools and his like burst and his handle — and we think he’s going to be an above-average to really good NBA shooter — he’s going to have a chance to really make an impact.”
Redick showered praise on Bronny for handling all the limelight as well as criticism with great maturity.
“I’ve just been impressed with the person that he is,” Redick said. “And to deal with…frankly, bulls— because of who his dad is and just keep a level head about it and be a class act says a lot about him, says a lot about that family and the way LeBron and Savannah have raised him was obvious to me from the moment I started spending time with him on the court this summer. He was certainly going to be an NBA player and I still believe that he’ll be an NBA player.”
Bronny, on the other hand, feels the team’s coaching staff backing has helped him in handling things in a better way.
“Just all the coaches believing in me and continue to put that in my head that they believe in me and what I can do as a player,” he said. “I was given an opportunity tonight to go show them what I’ve been working on while I’ve been sitting on the bench, in the G League getting reps, stuff like that. Just constantly putting that in my head that they believe in me and that I can contribute.”
The Lakers will next take on the Chicago Bulls on Saturday.
