Bronny James equals Magic Johnson rookie record

With nearly all the Lakers starters sidelined, the stage was set for Bronny to prove his worth. The 20-year-old did just that by providing a spark off the bench as a scorer and playmaker. In the second quarter, Bronny was instrumental in the Lakers outscoring the Bucks 27-23 after a disastrous first quarter that saw the home team concede a 15-point lead.

In the fourth quarter, he played nearly all 12 minutes and excelled as the point guard, setting up fellow rookie Dalton Knecht for several three-pointers. The night's highlight came when Bronny successfully blew past Giannis Antetokounmpo but failed to convert at the rim over two defenders. 

After the game, Bronny cheekily said Antetokounmpo possibly fouled him on the play and that he should have been sent to the line.

Bronny is unlikely to play 30 minutes again this season unless it's in an inconsequential game. However, the young guard can draw confidence from his performance on Thursday. After his career-high night, Bronny said he's more focused on the process than the results or the outside noise. 

"Just putting my head down and working," he said, via LA Times. "I feel like that's the only thing that I can control right now is going in every day and staying ready to play, staying ready to learn, getting the work in after hours, early mornings, stuff like that. Just all the controllables that I can do myself. There's not really much I can do [about] people, random people, talking about me every day... So I just go in the gym and work, put my head down and try to get better."

Lakers head coach JJ Redick, a strong supporter of Bronny since last year's Summer League, praised his rookie's work ethic. 

"Since Day 1, I've just been impressed with the person that he is," Redick said of Bronny, via LA Times. "And the way LeBron and Savannah have raised him was obvious to me from the moment I started spending time with him on the court this summer. He was certainly going to be an NBA player and I still believe that he'll be an NBA player."

Bronny is already an NBA player, but his path to becoming a starting-caliber player could be long and arduous. If he does get there, a lot of his naysayers, of which there are many, will be proven wrong.