Lakers' Bronny James Shockingly Ties Michael Jordan With Rookie Stat

With the No. 2 seed all wrapped up, the Houston Rockets opted to sit

The Lakers improved to a 50-31 record on the year and locked up the Western Conference's No. 3 seed in the offing. For its regular-season finale on Sunday, Los Angeles will face off against a tanking Portland Trail Blazers club that's been sitting its best players for multiple games already.

Houston, meanwhile, dropped to a 52-29 record on the year, but the club has still clinched the West's second seed and is uncatchable for Los Angeles.

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During the 140-109 blowout, the Lakers eventually brought in their deep-bench pieces, including rookies Dalton Knecht and Bronny James, to get some run in garbage time.

Bronny, the 20-year-old son of 21-time All-Star Lakers power forward LeBron James, iced his ninth triple of the year amidst an ebullient Crypto.com Arena home crowd.

Bronny for THREE 🔥

And the celebration from LeBron 😆#CenterCourt pic.twitter.com/WtJwAjOUJj
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 12, 2025

L.A. outscored Houston 10-1 to close out the matchup.

It was a happy moment for Bronny James, who has had an uneven rookie season. Then again, as the No. 55 pick out of USC in the 2024 NBA Draft, the 6-foot-2 guard was essentially redshirting his debut pro season.

Stunningly, the younger James tied Hall of Fame former Chicago Bulls shooting guard Michael Jordan during his debut pro season. Granted, Jordan was named an All-Star, an All-NBA Second Teamer, and Rookie of the Year, while finishing sixth in MVP voting, as a rookie for Chicago.

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While playing in all 82 regular season contests, Jordan averaged 28.2 points on .515/.173/.845 shooting splits, during an era where 3-point shooting was not nearly as much an offensive focus as it is today. He also pulled down 6.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 2.4 steals and 0.8 blocks a night.

Three-pointers made as a rookie:

Michael Jordan - 9
Bronny James - 9

I think it’s time to have this conversation 👀 pic.twitter.com/OEA6dxyqst
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) April 12, 2025

Across 26 healthy regular games this season, mostly in mop-up minutes (5.5 per), Bronny James is averaging 2.2 points on .333/.300/.786 shooting splits, 0.6 rebounds, and 0.6 assists.

In 11 regular season games for L.A.'s NBAGL affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, Bronny averaged a far more impressive 21.9 points on .443/.380/.815 shooting splits.

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