Bronny James needed only one preseason game to get the memes started again.
The Los Angeles Lakers sophomore guard James had a dreadful night in the team’s preseason opener against the Phoenix Suns on Friday. He finished the game at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, Calif. with a brutal 1/12 shooting line (including 1/8 from three).
James did manage to shoot 5/6 from the free throw line to finish with eight points, five rebounds, and two assists overall. But he was also a -12 in his 24 minutes of action as the Lakers got creamed by a final score of 103-81.
After the game, the 20-year-old James explained his shooting struggles. He said that they were essentially a function of him not yet having his legs underneath him and thus leaving his attempts short.
Bronny James on his 1-for-12 shooting night: “I didn’t rush, wasn’t forcing anything. I didn’t have my legs under me as much as I wanted to so I left a lot of them short.” pic.twitter.com/yfU03lkZYq
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 4, 2025
That isn’t too bad of an explanation from James considering that it was the preseason opener and that training camp just began for the Lakers a few days ago. But there still isn’t much of a way to sugarcoat shooting 8.3 percent from the floor and 12.5 percent from deep in a single game.
James also struggled with his shot during his rookie season in Los Angeles, producing 31/28/79 shooting splits for the Lakers (though those rose to 44/38/82 shooting splits in G-League action). The Lakers have a bigger vision in mind for the former second-round pick James this season, so they will be hoping that Friday’s outing was simply due to early preseason rust rather than a potentially broken jumper.
