Lakers' JJ Redick Awards Bronny James Shocking Grade for Rookie Season

Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick has offered up an interesting take on little-used rookie Bronny James' debut NBA season.

The 6-foot-2 combo guard, the eldest son of 21-time All-Star Lakers power forward LeBron James, was selected by Lakers team vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka out of USC with the No. 55 pick in the second round of last summer's 2024 NBA Draft.

Despite his relatively modest standing among his peers in the draft, Bronny James is easily the most famous rookie this season, by the benefit of not only being the son of one of the league's best players ever, but also because he made some special league history.

Bronny James suited up next to his then-39-year-old dad during L.A.'s season opener, a 110-103 October 22 victory against the Minnesota Timberwolves — now the club's first-round opponent. It marked the first time, ever, that two generations of NBA players shared the hardwood together — the fact that they also happened to be teammates blew many minds.

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In that game, LeBron James scored just 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the floor (1-of-4 from deep) and 1-of-1 shooting from the foul line, grabbed five rebounds, dished out four dimes and blocked two shots. Bronny James played just three minutes and recorded just one stat, an offensive rebound while shooting 0-of-2 from the floor.

Bronny James hasn't played much with Los Angeles proper this season. In 27 regular season games, he averaged just 2.3 points on .313/.281/.786 shooting splits, 0.8 assists and 0.7 rebounds in 6.7 minutes a night.

Per Khobi Price of The Orange County Register/The Southern California News Group, Redick nevertheless submitted a surprising grade for the younger James' start to the season.

JJ Redick said he'd give Bronny James an A+ for how he's handled his rookie season, explaining why below.

Bronny's making his first NBA start in the Lakers' regular-season finale today at Portland: https://t.co/MyFQWVtHtN pic.twitter.com/syWV0Q7t9H
— Khobi Price (@khobi_price) April 13, 2025

“I give him an A+. How he has personally handled a lot of attention, good and bad, he doesn’t ever break character. He’s the same guy every day and he doesn’t allow the good attention to get to him. He doesn’t allow the bad attention to get to him and he just continues to work," Redick said.

Bronny James has been able to weather the storm of severe media attention, often bemoaning his addition to the roster when he's essentially a G League player — for now.

“I thought Zach [Guthrie] and his staff did a phenomenal job with him when he was down with the South Bay Lakers [the Lakers' G League affiliate]," Redick said. "He’s improved and we saw this particularly, I went to some early games and seeing his confidence grow from October, November, to really that second part of the G League season, post Showcase, was phenomenal."

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The G League Showcase is essentially its preseason. Bronny James had a bumpy showing there, struggling with his jumper in particular.

"And I think every time he’s been on the court for us in the second half of the season, you can see that level of confidence and level of comfort," Redick said. "And I mean, he’s a guy you can tell things to and they don’t let it affect their work or their attitude. I told him, like, I’m very high on him longterm being a part of our rotation.”

To wit, Bronny James showcased a diversifying offensive game during L.A.'s regular season finale against the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, in which he played major minutes with Redick sitting all of his rotation players.

BRONNY HANDLES INTO THE PULL UP MIDRANGE🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/bKBsZ8l9Wo
— BIGMEM12 (@BIGMEM12) April 14, 2025

In 38 minutes of action, James scored four points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field, passed for six assists, swiped four steals and pulled down three boards.

Across his 11 regular season games for the South Bay Lakers, Bronny James averaged an impressive line of 21.9 points on .443/.380/.815 shooting splits, 5.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.9 steals per.

It seems unlikely he'll play much of a role on the 50-32 Lakers' postseason bid this year, but Redick clearly believes James' development is coming along well.

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