Bronny James breaks down his plan to earn more minutes with the Lakers next NBA season

Last year, Bronny James made his NBA debut, fulfilling both his and LeBron James’ dream of becoming the first father-son duo to share the court in league history. However, beyond that historic moment, the young guard didn’t play a significant role with the Los Angeles Lakers. Now, he knows exactly what he needs to work on to change that.

During a recent press conference shared by Courtside Buzz, Bronny spoke about how improving his offensive output will be key to increasing his playing time in the 2024-25 season. “It’s definitely made me think about being more aggressive on that end of the floor,” he admitted.

Still, James made it clear that offense alone won’t be enough to earn a bigger role with the Lakers. “I can’t lose that defensive drive that will get me on the floor because there’s gonna be guys that can score 15, 20 a game,” the guard explained. “I’m most likely not going to be that guy right now.”

During his rookie season, Bronny appeared in 27 NBA games, starting just once. He averaged only 6.7 minutes per game, recording 2.3 points, 0.8 assists, 0.7 rebounds, 0.3 steals, and 0.1 blocks. While those numbers aren’t impressive, they also don’t tell the full story — and it’s far too early to make any definitive judgments.

Bronny James #9 stands by LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2024-25 season

Aware that he’ll need to elevate his game to earn a spot on a roster filled with top-level talent, the 20-year-old guard was candid about his goals: “To get myself on the floor, I’ve got to be a defensive menace. That’s my main focus, getting conditioned this year. It’s been shown that I know how to score the ball a little bit, I’m staying true to that, but also focusing on the defensive end.”

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Bronny has high hopes for the Lakers

Beyond his personal goal of earning more minutes than he did in his rookie season, Bronny James is also focused on helping the Lakers improve on last year’s campaign.

In 2024-25, JJ Redick’s team was inconsistent for much of the regular season, but a late surge pushed them to third place in the Western Conference with a 50-32 record. Still, it meant little in the playoffs, where they were eliminated in the first round by the Minnesota Timberwolves in a 4-1 series.

Looking ahead to the upcoming season with the Lakers, LeBron James’ son sounded optimistic: “Obviously, being on the team, I think we’re going to come back even better than we were last year. We just got to come in here and come in the gym with a purpose and be ready to work every day and be ready to get better every day.”