One of the more intriguing storylines of the early portions of the upcoming 2024-25 NBA season will be when Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James, son of franchise icon LeBron James, will make his NBA debut. Bronny of course was drafted by the team in the second round this past June, and although he struggled for the Lakers during summer league, he is still expected to be a member of the main roster come opening night.
Speaking of opening night, that's slated to occur against the Minnesota Timberwolves in just three weeks, and some are wondering if newly minted Lakers head coach JJ Redick will be able to find minutes for Bronny in that contest.
One person who is skeptical of that happening is ESPN NBA insider Dave McMenamin, who recently took to the Hoop Collective podcast to share his concerns.
“If you look at the depth chart, you have a hard time saying that Bronny is going to be higher than the 13th or 14th man,” said McMenamin. “So that should make things rather difficult to be saying I’m going to pencil this in opening night to get you minutes against the Minnesota Timberwolves, a team that can be playing in the NBA Finals this year.”
McMenamin also spoke on why the Lakers will want to make sure the moment doesn't seem contrived.
“I imagine it will come early but I think they’ll have to dance around that to feel like a legitimate moment that’s earned and not something that was kind of scripted,” said McMenamin.
Meanwhile, insider Tim Bontemps took a more pessimistic approach.
“It feels like it’s scripted no matter what though, right? I sort of think everybody will be cool with that ultimately,” said Bontemps. “It feels like you almost have to get it out of the way early for no other reason because if you wait for the right time to do it then it feels like we could be waiting for a long time, and then it becomes awkward.”
Will Bronny James get consistent minutes?
There are several guards ahead of Bronny James currently on the Lakers depth chart, including Austin Reaves, D'Angelo Russell, Max Christie, Cam Reddish, Gabe Vincent, and possibly others.
The more likely scenario is that the younger James spends most of his time in the NBA G-League this year trying to refine his game for the highest level before eventually taking his talents back to the main squad.
In any case, the game vs the Timberwolves is slated for October 22 at 10:00 PM ET.
