Rachel Nichols thinks Bronny James’ critics are unfairly analyzing the Lakers’ second-round pick.
While discussing the 19-year-old rookie on FS1’s “Undisputed” on Wednesday, Nichols noted that he was the 55th overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft and detailed why the criticism surrounding LeBron James’ son is “totally unfair.”
“I think everybody looks at him like a top 10 pick. He’s not a top 10 pick, he’s the 55th pick,” Nichols said. “The expectation with the 55th pick is he’s going to primarily go to the G League and maybe play some games in the NBA.”
The former ESPN personality highlighted last year’s 55th pick, Isaiah Wong, who “played a total of four minutes in the NBA” with the Pacers.
“He averaged less than four minutes per game in the NBA. [he played] “He played a total of four minutes, but that was in one game,” Nichols said of Wong, who played briefly in Indiana’s loss to the Lakers in the season-long tournament finals.
“It would be totally unfair to rate Bronny next to a top 10 pick and compare him to the performance of someone at No. 55. And of course it would be. We all pay more attention to him because of who he is and the fact that he plays for the Lakers. And let’s not forget he’s LeBron’s son. But his level of play is not that much lower than players who have been in his position or played in the past.”
Nichols then spoke about Alex Sarr, the Wizards’ No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft, who didn’t score in 30 minutes of playing time in an NBA Summer League game earlier this week, emphasizing a view shared by Lakers coach JJ Redick, who said Bronny is a “player on the rise.”
“Bronny James was the 55th pick. JJ Redick has said publicly that he’s a player who is developing and we knew that, so to criticize him for his performance in summer league, as I’ve said many times, performance doesn’t matter in summer league. We’ve seen players who have poor performances in summer league go on to have good careers in the NBA,” Nichols said.
“What Bronny has to get used to in Summer League is the speed of the game. He has to get used to new coaches, teammates, new strategies and the spotlight on him. Because that’s another thing I saw sitting courtside at the Celtics-Lakers game on Monday night. Every time he touched the ball, the crowd went wild. And when he finally scored in the fourth quarter, the crowd went wild. In his other games, there were fans in the stands criticizing the coach: ‘Give Bronny the ball, give Bronny the ball.’ As a player, you don’t want that to happen.”
Nicholls then said Bronny “has to get the ball and he knows he hasn’t got it yet, and that’s OK. This is who he is right now.”
“… I get the impression that it’s been a big challenge. So I think the key for him is to get used to it all and the statistics will come with that,” she said.
Nichols’ comments Wednesday came just hours before Bronny had a standout performance in Summer League, scoring 12 points in the Lakers’ 87-86 win over the Hawks.
“I tried to forget about all the shots I missed and the games I lost,” Bronny told ESPN after the match. “I just went out there and played my game and tried to do my best every time I went out there.”
Prior to Wednesday’s game, Bronny, who played one season at USC before entering the NBA draft, had opened the door to the G League.
