Can Bronny James Reach the Competitive Level of the NBA?

The Lakers’ second-round pick has his flaws on display at Summer League, but there also are flashes of upside that could portend future pro productivity.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James has struggled during NBA Summer League. / Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports

Bronny James isn’t an NBA player. 

The question is: Can he become one?

After a week’s worth of NBA Summer League play stretching between Sacramento and Las Vegas, the basketball world has come to the shocking realization that a second-round pick isn’t ready. That includes the 19-year-old son of an NBA legend who entered the NBA draft with a resume that included 483 college minutes. 

Wild, right?

James is what most 55th overall picks are: flawed, limited with a sliver of upside. His size (6’2”) is a problem, he struggles to create separation and his three-point shot is broken. Entering Wednesday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks, James had connected on 22.6% of his shots—and missed all 15 of his threes. 

James isn’t the only one struggling in the desert. Ryan Dunn, the Phoenix Suns’ first-round pick, is shooting 31.8%. Donovan Clingan, the seventh overall pick, is shooting 27.6%. The second pick, Alex Sarr, had a stretch where he missed 17 consecutive shots.

But James is the only one people are paying attention to. In Vegas, signage with James’s image greeted you at the airport, looked down at you from billboards and is plastered all over ads on the Strip. The biggest crowds at the Thomas & Mack Center were for the Los Angeles Lakers’ first two games—and no one bought tickets to see Dalton Knecht. When Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown was caught on camera suggesting James wasn’t a pro, the video quickly went viral. 

“He has a lot of pressure, a lot of things on him,” said Colin Castleton, James’s Summer League teammate. “So he has a great mindset. He’s a great kid, great teammate and we love being around him. Everybody in the organization loves being around him.”

Around James, efforts have been made to ratchet down expectations. “He’s going to have a long career,” said Lakers Summer League coach Dane Johnson. “This is just the beginning.” New Lakers coach JJ Redick called James “a developmental player” and said he encouraged James to “fall in love with [the] process and let go of outcomes.” On The Pat McAfee Show, James’s agent, Rich Paul, said Summer League “wasn’t the end all be all.”

“I think all these guys are in development,” Paul said. “Bronny’s no different. He doesn’t get to be excluded from having to develop. Obviously, I know he wants to make shots and he will make shots, but again, it’s just about building great habits.”

James dribbles the ball against Celtics forward Anton Watson during a Summer League game. / Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports

And focusing on the positives. James is long, with a wingspan of 6’7”. He is athletic. He does have good defensive instincts. Redick says he wants James pressuring the ball regularly. He wants James studying the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Lu Dort and Boston’s Jrue Holiday, physical, ball-hawking guards with the ability to “completely take the offense out of what they are trying to do.”

“It’s, ‘Hey, where am I shining at and where do they see me having an opportunity?’” asked Paul. “It’s going to be on the defensive end and that’s where he’s probably the most developed today. The offensive stuff will come.”

There have been some encouraging signs. On Wednesday, James broke out of his summer-long slump, scoring 12 points. He attacked the rim confidently and connected on two of his five threes. “It was really encouraging,” James said. On Thursday, he knocked down a midrange jumper, drilled a step-back three and flashed signs of a complete game, finishing with 13 points, five rebounds and three assists against the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

“Just trying to keep my confidence,” James said. “Just going out there and playing my game. I feel like I know the right way to play, so if I go out there and play my game every game, results like that will come.”

Through it all, James has remained levelheaded. He credited the support system he has behind him, specifically his parents. Stay aggressive has been the advice from his father, LeBron, and James has tried to heed it. Like the Lakers, James understands what will get him on the floor. 

“Just being locked in on [the] defensive end,” James said. “If you can’t guard, then you can’t play. But also just being aggressive, staying aggressive, looking for my shot, taking the right shots while being aggressive with them. Just not throwing up some bulls---. So just staying aggressive and keep playing my game.”

The scrutiny, James said, “is something I’ve got to deal with if I’m going to play at this level.” James jumped into this fishbowl. Advised by Paul, James worked out for just two teams—the Suns and the Lakers. On draft night, Paul reportedly told other teams that if they drafted James, he would play in Australia. James wanted this outcome, to be in Los Angeles, sharing a locker room with his world-famous father.

Now, he has to figure out how to succeed in it. The first week of Summer League offered plenty of evidence that Bronny James isn’t NBA-ready. The last couple of games, though, provided flashes that suggest, someday, he could be.