Bronny James Assigned to G League, When Could LeBron's Son Return to Lakers Roster?

The Los Angeles Lakers announced that guard Bronny James and forward Adou Thiero have been assigned to the team's G-League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin.

James, the eldest son of Lakers superstar LeBron James and the team's second-round pick in the 2024 NBA draft, has played in 10 games this year with one start. He's averaged 2.1 points on 29.6 percent shooting (27.3 percent from three) and 1.8 assists in 11.1 minutes per game.

This season hasn't featured great results for James in the NBA by any means, but it's important to remember that he's just 21 years old and 37 games into his pro career.

He's notably impressed on the G-League level when given the chance. In 11 regular season games last season, James averaged 21.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.9 steals in 34.2 minutes per game. He also shot well from the field, making 44.3 percent of his field goals and 38.0 percent of his three-pointers.

Now James is headed back to the South Bay Lakers, whose season is already underway. South Bay is off to a 3-1 start, with its next game on Friday at home versus the winless Santa Cruz Warriors.

The G-League regular season runs through March 28, with playoffs in April. In theory, it's possible the Lakers keep James with the G-League squad for the season so he can get more playing time and experience.

Simply put, he's not going to get that consistently on the NBA level, especially with the Lakers being stacked at the guard position and excelling right now at 11-4.

If anything, James might be staying down in the G-League until there's an injury and the team needs to call him up for depth. Failing that, it's possible the team could call him up late in the year after the G-League season is over.

For now, though, James could very well dominate the G-League once again as he did before.