The Los Angeles Lakers' decision to play Bronny James only in home games for the G League's South Bay Lakers came under fire Wednesday.
ESPN's Brian Windhorst took time on his Hoop Collective podcast to address the Lakers' plan for the rookie, expressing that he does not think it benefits anyone.
James was assigned to South Bay from Los Angeles on Nov. 7 and scored six points in his debut on Saturday. At the time of the assignment, ESPN's Shams Charania revealed the Lakers' plans to have James play only in South Bay home games and have him split time with the G League and NBA.
Windhorst said he had previously backed all of the Lakers' decisions regarding James from draft night onward, even if there was some criticism from media and fans for the team factoring in the father-son relationship between LeBron James and Bronny James too heavily.
"I have been absolutely 100 per cent on board with the entire Bronny James experience," Windhorst said. "I think I would've preferred if he stayed in college, but that was never going to happen. I totally have endorsed the Lakers picking him with the 55th pick."
This latest decision has given Windhorst pause. He said he believes only playing home games may hinder James' development as a player and won't benefit the South Bay Lakers as a team.
"I'm going to apply the brakes on my 'everything is fine on the Bronny front' ... from my understanding, he's only going to play in the South Bay Lakers home games. He's is only going to kind of be a part-time G League player, and he’s not getting on United Airlines to fly to these road games," Windhorst said.
"Now, I think (playing only home games) is actually detrimental to him. I don’t like that. I don’t know whose idea it was, but obviously, the Lakers are fine with it — they’re doing it. On this particular instance, I think that’s gone too far, and I don’t think it benefits Bronny. I don’t think it benefits the South Bay Lakers, and I don’t think it benefits LeBron at that point.”
James finished his G League debut with 2-of-9 shooting from the field, including 0-of-4 on 3-pointers. The six-foot-three guard also had three rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot.
LeBron watched the game from court-side seats on the opposite side of the main stands with his wife, Savannah, and their 10-year-old daughter, Zuri. Gloria James, Bronny’s grandmother, also was in attendance, along with Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka.
The South Bay Lakers head out to play the Santa Cruz Warriors on the road Friday with James presumably not attending.
--With files from The Associated Press
