Bronny James’ absence from Lakers’ starting lineup sparks criticism of JJ Redick

Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick just announced his starting lineup for the 2024-2025 season, and fans usually are not pleased.

On Tuesday, September 24, Redick spoke with ESPN’s The Lowe Post podcast, where he revealed that the starting lineup will include LeBron James, Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, and Rui Hachimura.

He he said“Yes. That will be the starting five, which went 23-10 last year.”

This is one of Redick’s first moves since being hired last June, and while it’s a solid roster, not all fans seem completely satisfied with it.

After LeBron’s son, Bronny James, was drafted by the Lakers this summer — making history as the primary time father and son have played together within the NBA — many James fans felt the 19-year-old’s name needs to be on the starting five.

Under Instagram fasting from Bleacher Report, one fan wrote, “Really? No Bronny? Are they trying to lose every game??” A second fan said, “You have to put Bronny in the starting lineup or they’re going to lose every game.”

Another comment read, “Bronny got robbed,” to which the fan replied, “I love your content but Bronny is not better than anyone in this top 5, mate.”

Others agreed that LeBron’s oldest son wasn’t able to be a starter yet. “Bronny should be the 6th man until he gets used to the NBA speed and when his dads retire they’ll cut him,” one fan wrote, while one other said, “come on, he might get a nice check for a second-round pick, but that’s not enough to start with your dad.”

In the 23-24 season, Bronny played as a guard in his freshman yr on the University of Southern California. There, he began six of the 25 games he played in, scored 41 field goals, made 16 three-pointers, made 23 free throws, and totaled 71 rebounds. In terms of percentage per game, he shot 36.6 percent from the sector, 26.7 percent from three-point range, and 67.6 percent from the free throw line.

On the opposite hand, his father attended St. Vincent-St. Mary High School from 1999 to 2003. In his first yr of highschool, averaged Averaged 18.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per game while shooting 51.6 percent from the sector, 32.3 percent from three-point range and 79.7 percent from the free throw line.

LeBron has yet to publicly reply to Redick’s latest statement, but one thing the three-time Olympic gold medalist has to look ahead to this season is playing on the court along with his son, a historic experience the NBA veteran said could be a dream come true.

Redick didn’t confirm when exactly that can occur, but assured fans that the moment will come when the time is correct. He said on the podcast, “As far as that moment, yeah, we’ve talked about it, we’ve thought about it, and we’ll do it. I don’t want to commit to anything right now, but it’s going to happen, and it’s going to happen sooner rather than later.”

Bronny, meanwhile, will play for the South Bay Lakers within the G League this season, which Redick explains shouldn’t be seen as a demotion. “The G League is not a demotion by any means. We’re in the same building,” he said. “We should be the model for integration between an NBA team and a G League team. I look at Zach (Guthrie) as an extension of my staff/This team is an extension of our team. I would expect us to use the G League for very specific reasons.”

“I think Bronny is a young guy, I think he’s a lot of value as a player. He’s kind of like our first guy that we can mold and develop. So we’re going to look at the G League as a tool in our player development system,” Redick explained.

According to the G League website, “The NBA G League, formerly the NBA Development League or NBA D-League, is the official minor league of the NBA, preparing players, coaches, referees, trainers, and front office staff for NBA play while also serving as the league’s research and development laboratory.”