Former Warriors guard implies Bronny James lacks LeBron James’ offensive instincts (Photo Credit: Imagn)
After spending the first few weeks of the season at the NBA level, Bronny James has been sent to the G League to focus on his development. As the young guard embarks on this new journey, one former player spoke on the differences between him and his father.
During a recent episode of his podcast, Gilbert Arenas provided his breakdown of Bronny’s play style on the court. The former Golden State Warriors draftee feels a lack of offensive aggression is a major concern with his game.
“The problem with Bronny’s game is he’s not aggressive,” Arenas said.“When you’re not looking to score, it becomes a problem.”
“His game is passive all the way around.”
During the scouting process, scoring was never something that jumped off the page for Bronny James. Instead, it was his athleticism and basketball IQ that showed the potential to be a rotation player one day. That said, he’ll need to develop some kind of offensive game if he wants to hang around in the league.
Spending time in the G-League could help Bronny further tap into this part of his game. At that level, he’ll have an opportunity to have the ball in his hands more and get a steady flow of shots and touches.
In terms of his development, the LA Lakers should be focusing on finding ways to make Bronny productive on that end. If they’re able to do so, it could result in him staying at the NBA level somewhere down the line.
Bronny James struggles offensively in his NBA G-League debut
Following the Lakers matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers last week, the team sent Bronny James down to the G-League. Over the weekend he made his debut against the Salt Lake City Stars.
Bronny did a little bit of everything for the South Bay Lakers but continues to struggle shooting the ball. He finished with six points, three rebounds, four assists and two steals. However, Bronny shot just 2-for-9 from the field and 0-for-4 from beyond the arc.
While his numbers didn’t jump off the stat sheet, the Lakers shouldn’t be worried about how Bronny James looked in his debut. When they drafted him No. 55 overall, they knew he was going to be a long-term developmental project. The key thing for him right now is just getting live in-game reps.
Moving forward, it is unclear when or if we’ll see Bronny at the NBA level again. He and LeBron made history on opening night, and the second-round pick got to play in his hometown against the Cleveland Cavaliers. With these big moments behind him now, remaining in the G-League to work on his game makes the most sense.