Lakers' Bronny James learns disappointing G League news

Bronny James is being sent down.

The Los Angeles Lakers announced Thursday that LeBron's son is being assigned to the G League South Bay Lakers.

South Bay plays on both Friday and Saturday, so it'll be a chance for Bronny to get big minutes in a couple games in short order.

The promotional graphic for the weekend shows that South Bay is taking on former No. 1 overall recruit Emoni Bates, who never lived up to the hype, but creates for a fascinating matchup:

The Lakers have assigned Bronny James to the South Bay Lakers, putting him on course to appear in a back-to-back in Frisco on Friday and Saturday against the host @TexasLegends. pic.twitter.com/tEncU9kVGJ

This isn't the end of the world for the 21-year old Bronny. If anything, it allows him to keep developing his game by playing at length rather than in tiny stints.

At the NBA level this season, Bronny has played in 29 games and averaged 2.2 points and 1.2 assists in 7.3 minutes per game. He has shot it well, at 40.7% from 3-point range.

So far in the G League in 2025-26, Bronny has played four games, averaging 23.3 minutes per game down there. 

Bronny has averaged 15.8 points and 5.8 assists per game at that level, and the shooting improvements seem for real, as he has shot 42.9% from 3-point range for South Bay on pretty high volume.

For Bronny to make a long NBA career for himself, he's going to have to keep improving on the little details in his game that allow him to be a rotation player.

Going down to the G League to work in a higher-usage role can be a positive for his development if Bronny uses it right.

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