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The Los Angeles Lakers’ next-man-up mentality has opened the door for a pivotal moment, as second-year guard Bronny James was announced as part of the starting lineup for tonight’s clash against the Milwaukee Bucks. With the team navigating a rash of early-season injuries, James steps up to make his first start of the 2025-26 campaign and the second start of his career.
The current starting role for the sophomore guard is necessitated by a couple of key absences, namely Marcus Smart (illness) and Rui Hachimura (calf). This injury situation offers James an elevated opportunity, as his regular-season minutes have been inconsistent up to this point.
Prior to tonight's contest, the 21-year-old was averaging 2.3 points, 1.9 assists, 1.0 rebounds and 0.9 steals over 12.1 minutes per game to start the 2025-26 season. He was in the starting five alongside Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Jake LaRavia and Deandre Ayton.
Here are James’ stats and highlights from tonight.
Bronny James stats today
Though he got his first start of the season, James did not do much. At halftime, he has zero points in four minutes. James only took one shot, while passing up a few other opportunities.
Bronny had 3 open 3s in the corner and didn’t even LOOK at the basket.
Ben Simmons without the passing 😭 pic.twitter.com/wx100DYl0m
— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) November 16, 2025
More updates will be provided if James gets any more game action.
Why did Bronny James start vs. Bucks?
James started tonight's game against the Bucks due to injuries and absences to other players on the Los Angeles Lakers roster.
Specifically, the Lakers were missing both Marcus Smart, who is dealing with an illness, and Rui Hachimura, who was ruled out with a calf issue.
This situation led coach J.J. Redick to promote James to the starting five, giving the sophomore guard his first start of the 2025-2026 season and just the second start of his NBA career.
MORE:Is LeBron James playing tonight vs. Bucks? Latest update on Lakers star
Bronny James career stats
James's has played 35 regular-season games played and one career start (prior to Saturday's start against the Bucks).
Across his career, he is averaging 2.3 points per contest over an average of 7.9 minutes of playing time. James contributes on the defensive end with 1.1 assists and 0.5 steals per game, alongside 0.7 rebounds. His shooting splits sit at 30.8% from the field and 27.5% from three-point range, though he has been highly effective from the free-throw line, converting 81.3% of his attempts.
Notably, his playing time and defensive contributions have seen an uptick in the early part of the 2025-2026 season, with his assist and steal numbers nearly doubling his rookie averages.