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The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the better teams in the NBA to start the season, and it’s been a team effort. More news: Lakers’ Austin Reaves Linked to Rising East Team in Potential Trade While Austin Reaves stepped up in a massive way with LeBron James sidelined, who hasn’t played a game all year, and Luka Doncic for his short time out, the Lakers have received a lot of contributions from multiple players. That was the case once again on Sunday night when Los Angeles took down the Miami Heat 130-120, as youngster Bronny James had one of his better games as an NBA player. James only finished the game with two points and two assists, throwing down a mean slam dunk off an alley-oop from Reaves, but it was his defensive showings in the fourth quarter that really showed that he might have an opportunity to get more run for the Lakers moving forward. Bronny James #9 of the Los Angeles Lakers during play against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. James followed that up with another great game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night. Head coach JJ Redick was very impressed with what he had to do, stating that he believed he was excellent defensively on the ball. “I thought he was really good on the ball [defensively], and I’ve seen that twice now over the last week or so, I think it was the second half of the Portland game. He was really just a force in terms of containment and physicality,” Redick said, per ClutchPoints. “And he made arguably the play of the game.” “Luka was double-teamed; he was the next guy. He drove the closeout, got in the paint, read the paint swarm and ended up getting his teammate an open three,” Redick continued. “So just a really good building block for him tonight to play in a very meaningful game in the fourth quarter and have a lot of good plays.” More news: Lakers Announce Luka Doncic Update Before Spurs Game If James can continue to play defense at that type of level, there’s a possibility he can get meaningful minutes for the Lakers in the future. He still has a lot to work on in terms of his offensive game, but most players in their second year in the NBA are in a similar boat. For all the latest on the Lakers and NBA, head over to Newsweek Sports.
