Lakers mulling plans for historic first game with LeBron, Bronny

EL SEGUNDO — The annual preseason press conference with Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and the franchise’s head coach – now JJ Redick – typically touches on a variety of subjects ahead of the organization’s traditional team-wide Media Day on Monday.

The one topic that was addressed multiple times on Wednesday: the dynamic surrounding Lakers star LeBron James, who is entering his 22nd NBA season, and his son Bronny James, who the franchise drafted with its second-round pick and signed to a four-year contract in the summer.

LeBron and Bronny are not only the first father-son duo to play on the same team, but they’re also the first father and son to be in the NBA simultaneously.

Redick, who was officially hired on June 24, said he doesn’t look at having a father and son on the same team as a “challenge.” Pelinka quipped that Bronny, the 19-year-old guard who played one college season at USC after being a McDonald’s All-American at Sierra Canyon High, has already encountered a challenge of being on the same team as his 39-year-old dad.

“Maybe the challenge is on Bronny when, like in our pickup game, I think it was [Tuesday or Monday], he got switched on to LeBron and LeBron took him baseline, up and under off the glass,” Pelinka said. “The words exchanged afterward were probably more challenging than anything else.”

The elder James addressed Pelinka’s comments on his Instagram story: “Great defense. Better O,” with a smiling emoji on the post.

How the Lakers will go about the historic moment when LeBron and Bronny share the game floor has yet to be determined.

“We don’t have anything planned, per se, in terms of a commitment to do it this way,” Redick said. “We have obviously talked about it as a staff and we’ve gotten into some specifics of what that might look like. But we haven’t committed to anything.

“And obviously, there’s a discussion to be had once we’re all together with Bronny and LeBron too. They should be part of that discussion as well.”

The Lakers haven’t announced or decided how long Bronny will be on the NBA roster. Although the front office hasn’t confirmed it, Bronny James seems likely to spend much of the upcoming season in the G League developing his skills. He played in only 25 games during his one college season after recovering from cardiac arrest during an offseason workout.

Pelinka and Redick remain confident in the 6-foot-2 Bronny’s ability to become an NBA contributor.

“Bronny, I feel very fortunate that I get to coach him, because he’s young and he’s hungry and he’s got a lot of inherent skill sets that we can really mold into a really good NBA player,” Redick said. “On top of that, he’s a fantastic kid. He’s extremely coachable. He’s got the right spirit and energy every single day.”

‘SUSTAINABLE EXCELLENCE’ DICTATES ANY DEAL

The Lakers’ lack of roster changes – their lone additions were Bronny and first-round pick Dalton Knecht, with Spencer Dinwiddie and Taurean Prince departing via free agency – was a natural focal point, especially after the high-level play LeBron and Anthony Davis displayed last season and while helping lead Team USA to the Olympic gold medal in Paris this summer.

With the full roster – 15 players on standard contracts and three two-way contract players signed – the Lakers operated this past summer with limited flexibility. Following a first-round playoff exit after earning the No. 7 seed with a road win over the New Orleans Pelicans in the play-in tournament, the Lakers are largely returning the same team.

Redick said he would start the same group of James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura that finished last season 23-10.

But they do have two first-round draft picks (2029 and 2031) at their disposal to use in a trade. Pelinka outlined what it would take for the Lakers to use one, or both, of those picks in a potential deal.

“The philosophy that JJ and I are aligned on is we want to build sustainable Lakers excellence,” Pelinka said. “When we talk about moves, you can make a move that backfires. Every GM has made a trade where he says ‘Maybe that one wasn’t ideal.’ But every lens we look through has to lead to sustainable Lakers excellence.

“So the direct answer to the question is yes, we would do a trade with both picks if that would lead to sustained Lakers excellence. We would also use one pick to make a marginal upgrade if we felt like it was the right thing to do. We looked long and hard and did a lot of work seeing if there were ways to increase the overall roster talent this offseason and the right move didn’t present itself. It’s not an excuse to say that we have a different system that’s more of a limiting system for trades and moves. But we will continue to study and scour the marketplace.”

This makes Redick the Lakers’ most significant addition – something they hope can spark internal improvement.

Redick emphasized offensive rebounding as one of the areas of improvement from last season.

“JJ and I talk a lot about the roster and both of us in our partnership have a really strong belief in the 15 players on this team,” Pelinka said. “For any team to do well, you have to have good health and good fortune and those things are variables you can’t control. But with those, we have a lot of confidence in those 15 players.”

INJURY UPDATES

The Lakers will enter training camp with forward Jarred Vanderbilt and forward/center Christian Wood sidelined.

Wood will be reevaluated in six weeks after having left knee surgery on Sept. 9 – his second procedure on the knee in the past six months.

Pelinka said Vanderbilt, the defensive-minded wingman who played in only 29 games last season due to a foot injury, had two procedures – one on each of his feet – shortly after last season ended. He added that there is “optimism” Vanderbilt will be available once the regular season starts in a month (Oct. 22), but “there are a lot of ramp up steps that need to go well.”

Hachimura, guard Gabe Vincent and second-year guard Jalen Hood-Schifino are ready to report to next week’s training camp fully healthy, according to Pelinka.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.