After a couple of games back in the G League, Bronny James returned to the NBA proper on Friday night as the Los Angeles Lakers took on the Denver Nuggets.
With LeBron James out (and not even in the building as he instead took in son Bryce’s state championship game) and Luke Doncic resting, Bronny got the chance to play extra minutes for the big club.
Bronny may have not put up huge numbers, but his underlying statistics suggest the rookie from USC made a positive impact on the game despite the Lakers’ 131-126 loss.
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Bronny James stats vs. Nuggets
Bronny James played 16 minutes against Denver, which marks his career-high in the NBA.
In those 16 minutes, these were Bronny’s stats:
- 5 points
- 2 rebounds
- 1 steal
- 1-5 FG
- 1-5 3FG
- 2-2 FT
- +8 plus-minus
Two stats stand out the most there. The first is the shooting. It looks like Bronny understood his specific role on the floor Friday was to catch and shoot, and while inefficient, it likely was encouraging that he just kept letting it fly.
The second is the plus-minus. While not always a perfect statistic, it’s notable that Bronny’s mark was higher than Dalton Knecht, who played 36 minutes and scored 32 points yet had a negative-2 plus-minus rating.
This was the third time Bronny scored at least five points in an NBA game. He has one other five-point night along with his career-high nine points that came on Feb. 12.
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Bronny James highlights vs. Nuggets
Bronny had a singular highlight on Friday night, his only made field goal.
Austin Reaves dished to Bronny in the left corner, and he drained a 3 over Nikola Jokic.
BRONNY JAMES HITS THE THREE OVER JOKIC 🤯
Bronny is LOCKED IN 😤 pic.twitter.com/a4X9mFtYkm
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 15, 2025
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