Realistic Expectations For Bronny James G League Stats
For NBA rookie, and Lakers second-round pick Bronny James, playing with dad was short lived. After just five NBA games, the younger James has been sent down to the G League to work on his game, and develop into a respectable NBA player. As there was before the draft, there is some wild and unrealistic expectations for Bronny James G League stats.
When compared to other players in the developmental league, James is on the lower end of career production. For fans expecting him to average at or about 20 points per game, need only look as far as his dad's former team to see why that's unrealistic. Cavs wing Emoni Bates averaged 20ppg last season in the G league. He was the third best high school basketball player in the country in 2021 (according to ESPN), and averaged 15.6 points per game in college, then 2.7 points in 8.9 minutes for the Cavs last season.
James was the 20th-ranked player in the class of 2023 according to ESPN, and averaged 4.8 points per game in his one season at USC. His NBA numbers so far are 0.8 points per game in 2.8 minutes per game. He is a far cry from Bates talent level and experience.
James will be the youngest player on the South Bay Lakers, and the only other player on the team fresh out of college is Quincy Olivari. Quincy averaged 19.1 points per game last season at Xavier, so he's already more of an established scorer than James. None of his G League teammates averaged less than five points per game in college.
Even though James should probably be the last man off the bench for South Bay, there is no pressure for coaches to win in the G League, so he will likely play more minutes than he deserves. There will no doubt be pressure from Lebron Sr to have his son in the starting lineup.
Given his beginner status and abilities in pro basketball, taking into consideration organizational pressure to play James lots of minutes, and have the offense run through him, a potential G League stat line could look like this.
It's highly likely that James will get another stint with the big boys, regardless of his stats. That's the power of a billionaire dad. What he really needs, is two or three seasons in the G League, just to get good enough to averaged two or three points a game in the NBA. He has a lot of pressure on him, and it is incredibly unfair, but that's no reason to ignore reality, or temper expectations.