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Bronny James Out For Los Angeles Lakers NBA Summer League Opener vs. Warriors

The Los Angeles Lakers and Bronny James will tip-off 2025 Summer League play against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday at Chase Center in San Francisco. The former USC Trojans guard was in sweatpants and a t-shirt during warmups. He will not play.

Cory Pappas

Apr 19, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James (9) warms up prior to the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Apr 19, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James (9) warms up prior to the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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SAN FRANCISCO- The Los Angeles Lakers and Bronny James will get their 2025 NBA Summer League campaign underway on Saturday afternoon in the California Classic against the Golden State Warriors. The former USC Trojans guard is heading into his second season in the NBA. 

When the Lakers and Warriors took the floor for pre-game warmups, Bronny was in sweatpants and a t-shirt. There is no further information at this time regarding why he is not playing today.

The Lakers also play on July 6 at Day Two of the California Classic against the Miami Heat. Will James take the court for his first action as a second year NBA player then? If not, the Lakers will still have one more game in the California Classic on Tuesday before going to Las Vegas Summer League.

Bronny James Gets Second NBA Season Underway

Apr 13, 2025; Portland, Oregon, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James (9) steps out of bounds against the Portland Trail
Apr 13, 2025; Portland, Oregon, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James (9) steps out of bounds against the Portland Trail Blazers in the second half at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images / Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images

Bronny James was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft. As a rookie, Bronny did not see much of the court in the NBA. He appeared in 27 games, averaging 2.3 points per game in 6.7 minutes of action. 

As the season progressed, Bronny got more run with the Lakers G-League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers. In 11 games played with South Bay, James averaged 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds , and 5.4 assists. 

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Lakers Summer League Roster

The Los Angeles Lakers have a summer league roster that consists of nine guards; Bronny James, RJ Davis, DaJuan Gordon, Ty Johnson, Dalton Knecht, Augustas Marciulionis, Sir’Jabari Rice, DJ Steward, and Ethan Taylor. 

Dalton Knecht, like Bronny, was selected in the 2024 NBA Draft by the Lakers and is heading into his second season in the NBA. 

Additionally, the Lakers also signed the leading scorer in the national from a season ago in former Villanova Wildcats forward, Eric Dixon. 

Lakers 2025-2026 Season Outlook

Apr 22, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron J
Apr 22, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) leave a court after defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves 94-85 in game two of first round for the 2024 NBA Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images / Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

Per usual, the Los Angeles Lakers will have high expectations this season. The Lakers will be led by Luka Doncic and LeBron James and they will look to improve following their early exit in the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

The Lakers stunned the basketball world in February when they traded forward Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks for guard Luka Doncic. Doncic is widely considered to be a top five player in the world and is just hitting his athletic prime.

There has been speculation about the future of LeBron James and if he will be a member of the Lakers come the fall. His agent Rich Paul put out a statement last week, hinting that James and the Lakers could be on different timelines when it comes to the urgency to compete for a championship. The now 40-year-old James has no time to waste while the Lakers on the other hand have a 26-year-old Luka Doncic they would like to build around.

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Cory Pappas
CORY PAPPAS

Cory Pappas is sports writer for USC Trojans On SI and Oregon Ducks On SI. Since starting in March of 2024, he has been writing breaking news stories, game previews, game recaps, and more across College Sports, the NFL, MLB, NBA, and Olympics for Total Apex Sports. In addition to writing, Cory is also a sports data scout for Sportradar. He covers live sporting events ranging from college athletics to semi-pro and professional. Before joining the industry, Cory graduated from the University of Oregon in 2022. He ran track for Oregon's club Track and Field team. Before Oregon, he played varsity basketball and track and field in high school in Walnut Creek, CA. Cory is using his lifelong passion for sports and writing together.

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