JJ Redick Assesses Bronny James’ Play This Preseason

Coming into the preseason, one of the names who would be most closely watched on the Los Angeles Lakers was Bronny James. Not only is this his first season without his father LeBron James being his teammate, but also, with the Lakers having 16 guaranteed contracts on the books, he is someone who would be considered a potential candidate to be cut before the start of the regular season.

While James showed excellent signs of development down the stretch of last season, he has struggled in the preseason so far, averaging just 2.8 points in 17.5 minutes per game while shooting just 26.7% from the field and 14.3% from deep. And while head coach JJ Redick acknowledged James’ struggles, he still feels like the guard has had great practices and perhaps hasn’t been put in the best situations during the preseason.

“I thought he had a really nice September and a good summer with us,” Redick said after the Lakers’ loss to the Golden State Warriors. “I don’t think he’s played well in the four preseason games, but he’s had good practices. Again, some of it is just rhythm, some of it is who he’s playing with. He’s played a lot of minutes, especially in the second half of games with our two-way guys. And tonight he played with Rafael (Castro), who’s been with us for three days. So some of it is like the group he’s with is not necessarily setting him up for success.”

Indeed, James has spent a lot of time in the preseason with lineups that don’t place him in the role he would be in normally, and that does matter. It should be noted that prior to Tuesday’s contest, James was leading the Lakers in assists per game this preseason, but his showing against the Warriors was his worst so far as he failed to score while turning the ball over four times in 11 minutes.

With only one preseason game remaining, a strong performance from James would be ideal in order to ensure his place on this Lakers roster. But Redick has seen some good things in practices from him, now it will just be a matter of translating that to real games.

JJ Redick diagnoses Lakers’ turnover problems this preseason

James’ four turnovers against the Warriors were part of a bigger problem as the Lakers committed 29 in the loss with five players having at least three. The Lakers have had at least 21 turnovers in every preseason game and Redick discussed what he believes is causing these issues.