Lakers’ Bronny James continues promising play in NBA Summer League

Bronny James Jr. #9 of the Los Angeles Lakers drives past Pete Nance #8 of the Cleveland Cavaliers during a 2024 NBA Summer League game at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 18, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Candice Ward/Getty Images/AFP

LAS VEGAS — Lakers rookie Bronny James put together his second promising NBA Summer League performance in a row Thursday night, scoring 13 points in Los Angeles’ 93-89 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The son of NBA career scoring leader LeBron James had eight first-half points on 3-of-5 shooting. He ended the game by making 5 of 10 shots, including 1 of 3 from 3-point range. James also had five rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.

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Bronny James, taken 55th in this year’s draft, had struggled throughout summer league until he scored 12 points Wednesday night in the Lakers’ 87-86 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. Until then, he was 7 for 31 from the field this summer and 4 for 19 in two games at Las Vegas.

Bronny James averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists last season in his lone year of college basketball at Southern California, appearing in the team’s final 25 games.

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He wasn’t able to start the season after needing a procedure to fix what was diagnosed as a congenital heart defect, which was found after he went into cardiac arrest during a workout last summer.