Bronny James bounced back from a tough night in Philadelphia to score his NBA career-high 5 points, as fans in Washington showered him with MVP chants during the Lakers’ dominant 134-96 win over the Wizards.
The 20-year-old rookie, who went scoreless against the 76ers on Tuesday, played the entire fourth quarter and showed flashes of his potential despite shooting just 1-for-6 from the field.
“He did a lot of really good things tonight,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said after the game. “Defensively he was great.”
The young James made his presence felt beyond the scoring column, grabbing two rebounds and dishing out two assists. In one impressive sequence, he snagged a steal and fired a perfect long pass to Dalton Knecht for a thunderous dunk.
He wasn’t done there. Later in the game, Bronny showed off his playmaking skills by tossing up a sweet alley-oop that Christian Koloko slammed home.
The Washington crowd seemed to embrace LeBron’s son, breaking into “MVP! MVP!” chants when he stepped to the free-throw line late in the game. He calmly sank both shots.
“He’s had eyeballs on him his whole life. He’s used to it,” Redick explained, relating to the pressure of being a highly-watched rookie. “I remember not playing a lot my rookie year and second year. The Orlando fans would sometimes chant ‘We want JJ’ in blowouts – it’s a weird feeling.”
The coach was particularly impressed with how Bronny’s handling the spotlight.
“There’s that audible sort of anticipation every time you shoot the ball. It’s a lot,” Redick said. “He has handled everything with dignity, grace, class, all that stuff. He’ll continue to grow.”
For the younger James, it’s another small step forward in his NBA journey – one that’s being watched by basketball fans everywhere.
