The Bronny James most NBA fans have seen after his cardiac arrest incident doesn’t look much like the Bronny James scouts raved about in high school.
There have been some flashes of the pre-USC phenom who was graded by ESPN draft expert Jonathan Givony as a top-10 pick. He had a 15-point performance against Oregon State during his freshman year, 25 points over his last two Summer League games and 17 points in his last NBA preseason game. But for the most part, Bronny as a pro has looked like one of the worst players on the floor.
That changed in his fourth career G League game when he exploded for 30 points on an efficient 13-of-23 shooting.
This is much more of what Bronny looked like at Sierra Canyon, which led to him being mocked so high at the end of his high school career. It’s just one game, but he could be turning a corner and tapping back into that potential from two years ago.
BRONNY JAMES STATS: Complete G League game logs | Complete NBA game logs
This is the Bronny James NBA scouts were excited about
Bronny hit just 26.7 percent of his 3s at USC and was 1-of-12 during the NBA preseason. He wasn’t always an unreliable shooter.
Bronny earned a spot on the McDonald’s All-American game in high school, coming one 3-pointer away from tying the record during a 5-of-8 performance. He was a streaky shooter capable of going off for big shooting nights.
That finally happened again on Thursday. Defenders have routinely gone way under screens, daring him to shoot. He made his first two attempts against that defense, gaining confidence and eventually even nailing a bomb a solid foot-and-a-half behind the line.
It wasn’t just the shooting that came back. Bronny has always been a terrific athlete, but he hasn’t gotten a ton of chances to showcase that skill. In high school, he finished second place in the McDonald’s Slam Dunk Contest, and his 40.5-inch vertical was the fourth-highest at the NBA Draft Combine.
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The Lakers ran a nice play at the start of the second quarter to get him a dunk attempt, having him fake coming off a pindown screen before cutting to the rim. It worked perfectly.
Bronny had other unscripted plays where he was also able to demonstrate how much of a physical advantage he can have over opponents.
He used a shoulder dip to create space on layups, powering through defenders like former NBA prospect TyTy Washington. And his acrobatic touch reminded everyone of the type of elite athleticism he has.
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Bronny has always been at his best in transition. Our draft expert Kyle Irving wrote of him in high school that “even when he’s pushing the pace, his court vision seemingly slows the game down as he decides whether to attack the rim or dish to an open teammate running the lane.”
That evaluation was evident on Thursday. Bronny showed great awareness in getting the ball and taking one dribble before throwing it up for a perfect lob.
The biggest skill Bronny had as a high school player was his defense. Givony called him “arguably the best perimeter defender in his high school class.” Irving agreed with that assessment.
“Off the ball, he does a great job of lurking like a safety, using his anticipation to jump passing lanes for steals and deflections or soar in from the help side for blocks,” Irving wrote.
Bronny’s defensive athleticism was on full display in the following play. He flew past a screen to swat a 3-pointer away in the fourth quarter.
That we haven’t seen this version of Bronny for a while shouldn’t be that surprising. Coming back from a potentially life-threatening medical condition was going to take a lot of time. This could be a sign of him finally turning that corner and getting back to the guy who had scouts thinking he was one of the better prospects in his class.
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