Bronny James Said The Words That Tell You Everything About His Season Ahead

Bronny James is gearing up for his third NBA season, and he is laser-focused on proving his talent beyond just his famous last name. For the first time, he is playing without his dad, LeBron James, as a teammate and he made it clear at Monday’s media day that he is ready to carve out his own path.

Second Year Strides and Third Year Goals

Last year, Bronny really started to show some growth on the court. He bumped his deep shooting percentage way up to 38.6 percent, a huge jump from 28.1 percent in his rookie year. His two-point shooting also saw a big leap, hitting 43.1 percent compared to 34.3 percent the season before. Plus, he kept flashing that impressive feel for the game, strong on-ball defense, and smart connective passing. This year, the big goal for him is to show that outside shooting wasn’t a fluke and to get even better at attacking when defenders run him off the three-point line.

“Prove Myself as Bronny Instead of LeBron”

Bronny’s motivation is clearly personal. He told reporters, “I think, for me, just the motivating factor of creating my own path and my own career just makes me want to get up every day and work hard and come into the gym and learn from guys that have been here longer than me.” He really wants to shake off the shadow of his dad. “You guys know me as Bronny and my real name is LeBron,” he added. “I’ve been doing this for however long so I think it’s a motivating factor for me just getting up every day to prove myself as Bronny instead of LeBron.” At 6-foot-2, he is an off-ball guard and he knows it is an uphill battle to become a full-time rotation guy, especially with limited dribbling and interior scoring comfort. But with Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves leading the Lakers’ offense, it allows smaller players like Bronny to play off-ball, which is something he focused on this offseason. The Lakers also need point-of-attack stoppers, and Bronny has definitely shown promise there. If his shot is legitimate and his offense keeps developing, he could become a truly reliable option off the bench. That is absolutely his goal for this year.

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Originally reported by Silver Screen and Roll.