The Los Angeles Lakers have a massive summer ahead of them. The Lakers have a ton on their plate, and this summer will tell us almost everything about how this season could play out.
The expectation for the Lakers is that they will make one or two significant moves to bolster their roster, giving them a better chance of competing for a title. L.A. has the top-heavy talent to get the job done, but their rotation players and back end of the roster needed some work.
That’ll be part of the focus for the Lakers this summer, and while they’ll look for help outside the team, they expect their current players to develop and evolve. One player they’ll have high hopes for and could enter the rotation is rookie guard Bronny James.
A few weeks ago, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin shared how James could be in the rotation next season. Sean Deveney of Heavy.com shared that a Western Conference executive expressed the same sentiment as McMenamin, stating that the Lakers are “dead-set” on making Bronny a part of the rotation next season
The fact is, he was a lot better player in April than he was in October, and definitely in July… If he can show that wasn’t a fluke, he is going to start getting 10, 15 minutes a night because the team is going to feel like they can trust him. I think he is going to do all that. He is going to be a regular for them next year.
James’ rookie season went as expected. He played very few to no minutes at the start of the season; however, as the Lakers had expected, he improved as the season progressed and looked like a much more refined and confident player in the league.
In the season, James averaged 2.3 points per game, 0.7 rebounds, 0.8 assists, and 0.3 steals while shooting 31.3 percent from the field and 28.1 percent from three in 27 games and 6.7 minutes of action.
It’s unclear what direction the Lakers will go, but one thing seems for sure: James will play a bigger role with the team next season.
