Rookie Bronny James was held out of Sunday’s California Classic Summer League game at San Francisco because of inflammation in his left knee.
James’ absence from the 92-68 loss to the Golden State Warriors was seen as a precautionary measure, the second of two consecutive losses. James is expected to play in the final Classic game against the Miami Heat on Wednesday.
“The hope (and the plan) is that he plays his next game here. But that’s the information we have as of now,” Lakers Summer League coach Dan Johnson said.
In his summer league debut on Saturday against the Sacramento Kings, James, selected 55th in last month’s draft, scored four points on 2 of 9 shots in 22 minutes.
In the middle of the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against the Warriors, fans at Chase Center began clapping and chanting, “We want Bronny! We want Bronny!”
Johnson said James’ availability for the game against the Heat will be left to the team’s medical professionals.
“Our coaches deal with all of that. They just give me updates,” Johnson said. “So, hopefully you guys will be able to get an update on that later.”
The Lakers have made it a priority to give James as much representation as possible throughout the remainder of Summer League, which will take place in San Francisco and then in Las Vegas beginning Friday.
This report used information from The Associated Press.
