Bronny James, Dalton Knecht to Sit Out Lakers' Final Summer League Game as Precaution

The Los Angeles Lakers' two 2024 NBA draft picks—Dalton Knecht and Bronny James—will not play in the team's final summer league game against the Chicago Bulls in Las Vegas on Saturday.

According to Spectrum Sportsnet's Mike Trudell, it is a "team medical decision" on the Lakers' part based on the number of practices and games they have had recently.

"He had two pretty good games last two," Lakers summer league coach Dane Johnson told reporters. "I think it's just going to help him going into the summer so we can work on different things with him. Just that confidence and knowing he can play at this level. It's still going to take a lot of time and a lot of reps."

Since the start of the California Classic summer league on July 6, Saturday will mark the Lakers' eighth game in 15 days, and their fourth game this week.

Bronny, who is the son of Lakers star LeBron James and was he No. 55 overall pick in the second round of the 2024 NBA draft, has displayed significant improvement after a rough start in the summer league.

In four Las Vegas summer league games, Bronny averaged 8.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists, while shooting 35.0 percent from the field and 15.8 percent from beyond the arc.

On Wednesday, James finished with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 shooting from deep in an 87-86 win over the Atlanta Hawks.

He followed that up with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting, plus five rebounds, three assists and two blocks in a 93-89 win against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday.

"I think right now he's more of a [shooting guard], but I think he could be a combo-ish," Johnson added. "He picks up stuff really well. We throw stuff at him -- plays, coverages, defensively. He kind of picks it up really quick, so I think he could potentially be [a point guard]. Maybe we'll work on that in the summer, but I think right now being that secondary playmaker is kind of where he's at right now."

While Bronny had his ups and down in summer league play, Knecht was among the best players in Vegas throughout.

The 2024 No. 17 overall draft pick out of Tennessee entered play Saturday ninth in Las Vegas summer league scoring with 21.3 points per game on 41.3 percent shooting.

Knecht also put up 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 3.0 three-pointers made per contest on 39.1 percent shooting from long range.

In his only season at Tennessee after transferring from Northern Colorado, Knecht was named a unanimous first-team All-American and the SEC Player of the Year.

He was widely expected to be a lottery pick, but he fell to the Lakers at 17th overall, perhaps due to the fact that he was among the oldest NBA draft prospects at 23 years old.

With James, Knecht and Maxwell Lewis all sitting, the Lakers are likely to lean on center Colin Castleton as the go-to guy when they face Chicago on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.