Lakers coach JJ Redick was blunt about Bronny James' preseason. "I don't think he's played well," he said, per CBS Sports. Yahoo Sports and Silver Screen and Roll both report that Redick still isn't concerned. Yahoo says he doesn't think the preseason numbers tell the full story. Silver Screen and Roll's Jackson Frank says Redick added context to explain the slow start. The feed excerpt cuts off at "I thought […]", so we can't say what that context was.
CBS Sports' Cameron Salerno puts James at 11 points and 12 turnovers across four games. Silver Screen and Roll adds that he is 4-of-15 from the floor and 1-of-7 from three, with 13 assists. Our box scores match those figures. He scored 3 points on 1-of-5 shooting at Sacramento on Oct. 5. At Golden State on Oct. 6 he had 4 points, 5 assists and 3 turnovers, and the Lakers were outscored by 13 in his 21 minutes. He had 4 points, 6 assists and 4 turnovers in 22 minutes against Sacramento on Oct. 8.
His most recent outing was the worst. In the 101-89 loss to Golden State on Tuesday, he played 11 minutes and went 0-of-2 with no assists and four turnovers. The Lakers were outscored by 18 with him on the floor. As a team the Lakers committed 29 turnovers in that game to Golden State's 20, and the Warriors scored 26 points off them. James accounted for four of those 29.
For context, he was not a rotation regular in the 2026 regular-season data we hold. Across 42 games he averaged 8.9 minutes, with one start. He shot 40.9% from the field and made 0.5 of 1.4 threes per game. His preseason minutes, 11 to 22 a night, are well above that. That gives the turnover count more weight, because he is getting more playing time than he did in those regular-season games.
The Lakers' 2026 record is 53-29, first in the Pacific, and their results this preseason have been mixed. They lost 124-98 at Golden State, beat Sacramento 114-110, and then lost to the Warriors again. Redick's public stance is that the preseason is a poor guide for James. His next test is when the Lakers host Denver on Friday, Oct. 16, in a game that hasn't started yet. Neither the reporting nor our data says what role Redick has in mind for James.
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