Bronny James To Return To Los Angeles Lakers vs. Oklahoma City, Injury Report

The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off a win against the New Orleans Pelicans, 124-108. With five games left of the regular season, the Lakers are pushing to keep the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.

Former USC Trojans guard Bronny James is back with the Lakers following the conclusion of the G League regular season. Despite being active with the Lakers, James did not play the last two games due to an illness.

The Lakers will face the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 6. Compared to March, the injury report for the Lakers is much shorter. Forward Maxi Kleber is out, and forward LeBron James is probable. Forward Rui Hachimura was day-to-day but is now off the injury report.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have five players ruled out ahead of the matchup. Guards Ajay Mitchell, Nikola Topic, and Alex Ducas, and forwards Ousmane Dieng and Jaylin Williams are all ruled out of the game. Topic is out for the season with an ACL injury.

Heading into the matchup, guard Bronny James is not listed on the injury report and should be good to go against the Thunder.

James’ last time earning minutes in the NBA was on March 22. He earned seven minutes, scoring two points off free throws. His best game of the season was against the Milwaukee Bucks on March 20, when James played 30 minutes, scoring 17 points with five assists and three rebounds.

This season, James has averaged 5.9 minutes, with 2.3 points per game. He has also averaged 0.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists.

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As James has played more throughout the season, he has only gotten better. Lakers coach JJ Redick spoke about James’ improvement in March.

“The biggest area of improvement is probably just his playmaking, and I don’t mean that just in terms of passing,” Redick said. “But just his ability to play on and off the ball as a decision-maker, either a scorer or a passer. And with that, his confidence level and level of aggression has grown. For a young player, those are two really important things.”

James only played in 11 games in the G League with the South Bay Lakers, but he put up a dominant performance. If James played more consistently in the G League, he could have possibly earned MVP.

In 11 games with South Bay, James averaged 34.2 minutes with 21.9 points. He also averaged 5.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals.

No matter which team James has been with this season, he is always ready to give his best on the court.

"I'm always trying to stay ready as much as I can, whether I'm playing in the G or up here with the big guys," James said after the Lakers faced the Denver Nuggets. "I'm always ready to, you know, go at it and give my full effort."

Although James is not a starter and is still pushing for minutes in the NBA, now that the G League's regular season is over, the rookie can finish the year on a high note.

The Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder will tip off at 12:30 p.m. PT at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

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