The Los Angeles Lakers lost the final game of a five-game road trip on Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies 131-114.
The Lakers now have a 4-4 record and will finish the road trip with a 1-4 record. All four losses L.A. has endured came on this road trip, and it did not end well against the Grizzlies.
Because the game was relatively over with roughly five minutes left in the game, entered Lakers rookie guard Bronny James. James entered the game in the fourth quarter with 4:35 left on the clock.
James finished the game with two points, both of which came from the charity stripe. He shot 0-for-2 from the field and committed one foul in five minutes.
James made his NBA debut in the season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 22 and has made two appearances outside of Wednesday’s. The team is allowing him to stay with them through this upcoming road trip but he will then shuffle between the NBA and G-League.
The Lakers have spent time this offseason putting an emphasis on player development, with James being one of the main pieces of that. Redick spoke earlier this summer about the plan for James, saying he will be given an opportunity to grow his game.
“For us, prioritizing player development, we view Bronny as like, case study one, because his base level of feel, athleticism, point-of-attack defender, shooting, passing, there’s a lot to like about his game,” Redick said in July. “And as we sort of build out our player development program holistically, he’s going to have a great opportunity to become an excellent NBA player.”
James isn’t ready to be a full-time NBA player and will need patience from the Lakers to develop. If the team can allow him the time that he needs, he could eventually become an impactful player at the professional level.
The Lakers will now likely send him to their G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, where they will hope he develops and becomes the player they hope he can become.
The Lakers will return to Southern California for their game on Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers, who will be without their star center, Joel Embiid. L.A. will now look to snap this two-game skid that they are in, and maybe being back at home will do them some wonders.
We will see when James will be back on the floor for the Lakers.
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