Bronny James is heading to the NBA G League for some double duty.
The 55th-overall pick has been assigned to the South Bay Lakers by Los Angeles, the team announced Thursday, and his debut is expected to come against the Salt Lake City Stars on Saturday.
Earlier, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the Lakers’ plan for now is for James to only play in home games for the G League squad, shuttling between both teams and managing his time on the respective rosters.
Bronny, son of Lakers superstar LeBron James, has spent the start of his rookie season with his father on the NBA roster, making four appearances on the court in that span. He played for two minutes 41 seconds in the team’s season-opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves, making history with LeBron as the first father-son duo to play in an NBA game together.
On Oct. 30, Bronny scored his first NBA points with LeBron watching from the bench. He did it against the Cleveland Cavaliers, in the state he was born and saw his dad bring a championship to.
The USC product is averaging 1.0 points, 0.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists on 16.7 per cent shooting from the field while averaging 3.3 minutes of action a game. Throughout six pre-season games, Bronny averaged 4.2 points and 16.2 minutes of playing time.
Meanwhile, the move down to the G League doesn’t come as a surprise and appears to have been in the works since the 20-year-old was drafted by Los Angeles.
“The plan for Bronny to move between the Lakers and South Bay has always been the plan since day one. (General Manager) Rob (Pelinka) and I have talked about that. LeBron’s talked about that,” said head coach JJ Redick.
At media day, LeBron also spoke about the idea of Bronny spending time in the G League and the synchronicity between the two squads.
“Seeing him continue to grow as a basketball player, no matter if it’s here with us or if it’s down with the G League team, and him continuing to get better and better,” the four-time MVP said. “We want to hold him accountable. He’s going to hold us accountable, and if we all do that, we’ll all get better, because we’re all one team. We are a reflection of the South Bay. The South Bay is a reflection of us. … We’ll continue to grow, stacking days. I know he’s going to do that, because that’s just what he’s about.”
The Lakers host the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday to begin a four-game homestand.
— with files from the Associated Press