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Kendra Andrews, ESPN
Rookie Bronny James was held out of Sunday’s California Classic summer league game in San Francisco because of trace swelling in his left knee.
Keeping James out of the 92-68 loss to the Golden State Warriors — the second day of a back-to-back — is considered precautionary. James is expected to play in Wednesday’s final Classic game against the Miami Heat.
“The hope is [and] the plan is for him to play the next game here. But that’s all the information we have so far,” Lakers summer league coach Dane Johnson said.
In James’ summer league debut Saturday against the Sacramento Kings, the No. 55 pick in last month’s draft scored four points on 2-of-9 shooting in 22 minutes.
Halfway through the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against the Warriors, fans in Chase Center began clapping and shouting, “We want Bronny! We want Bronny!”
Johnson did say that James’ availability for the game against the Heat would be left up to the team’s medical professionals.
“Our trainers deal with all of that. They just give me updates,” Johnson said. “So, hopefully, you guys can have information on that later.”
The Lakers are prioritizing giving James as many reps as possible through the remainder of summer league, both in San Francisco and then in Las Vegas beginning Friday.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
