Bronny James bouncing back after slow Summer League start with back-to-back double-digit scoring games

James is starting to look a bit more comfortable in Las Vegas

By Sam Quinn Jul 19, 2024 at 2:59 am ET• 2 min read

Bronny James had perhaps his worst moment at Summer League with roughly four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of Thursday's win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. With the Los Angeles Lakers down four, James caught a pass from behind the arc and moved before thinking. Rather than try the wide-open triple, he went into attack mode. Unfortunately, he was called for a travel in the process.

Such hesitance wasn't entirely unpredictable. James has struggled mightily from deep in Las Vegas. His 3-point shooting was in issue in college and high school as well, and it will likely be the primary area in which he needs to improve if he is going to become a productive NBA player. Most rookies facing as much pressure as he is probably would have preferred to try their luck on a drive as well.

Rookies make mistakes. It happens. What matters is how they respond to them. And James, roughly one minute later, responded brilliantly. Handling the ball on the perimeter, Colin Castleton came to set a screen for him. Jaylon Tyson tried to go under that screen, the correct decision when facing a ball-handler with a weak jumper. That left James wide open, but that advantage would only matter if he could punish Tyson for leaving him alone. He did so, stepping back into a clean 3-pointer that cut the Cleveland lead to two and gave him his biggest shot of Summer League thus far.