Former NBA champion reveals three changes Bronny James has made that've turned him into a player to watch
Bronny impressed with his defense against Sacramento
There are only so many touches available on a team built around Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, which makes the path to playing time for Bronny James fairly clear.
If the Los Angeles Lakers are going to trust him with regular minutes, he has to affect games in other ways.
Against the Sacramento Kings, that meant defending every possession as if it mattered.
James picked up ball-handlers high, stayed attached through actions and repeatedly tried to disrupt passing lanes. One possession, in which he knocked the ball loose and immediately dove to the floor to recover it, prompted a strong reaction from former NBA champion Danny Green on the broadcast.
“Great defense,” Green said. “I think he’s learned a thing or two from being around Collin Sexton in that locker room. "Setting hands on the ball, diving on the floor again, first one to the ground – this is how you earn your minutes. Trying to pick up some weight in the offseason too, he’s got a little stronger.”
That sequence captured why the performance mattered, as James wasn't waiting for the offense to come to him.
Redick has made the assignment clear
The defensive emphasis isn't new.
Head coach JJ Redick has been pushing James to become a more disruptive full-court defender, particularly when the Lakers are trying to create energy without changing the structure of their offense.
“I think just building on defensive instinct, how I was in the playoffs, picking up full court,” James said after a recent practice. “They’ve been emphasizing that, so I’ve been one of the guys that is picking up full court every possession, every time we get a bucket, just picking up full court.”
That responsibility has also carried into practice, where James has regularly drawn difficult assignments against Doncic and Reaves.
“For sure, it’s going to make me better on the defensive end just picking them up full court,” James said. “I’m annoyed by them, they get annoyed with me in practice. Just continuing to do that will make me better for sure.”
James appeared in 42 games last season, but his role remained limited and inconsistent.
The Lakers now have greater backcourt depth, with Collin Sexton expected to take significant minutes behind Doncic and Reaves when healthy. That leaves James in a position where every preseason opportunity carries added weight.
He's unlikely to win those minutes by outscoring the established guards ahead of him.
He can, however, make himself valuable by pressuring the ball, defending the point of attack and bringing the kind of effort coaches notice immediately.
That is what Green was responding to against Sacramento.
“This is how you earn your minutes,” he said.
It was only a preseason performance, but it offered a useful glimpse of what James ’ path could look like.
If he can make defense his calling card, the Lakers may not need him to do much more to justify keeping him on the floor.
