Why is Bronny James not playing tonight against Golden State Warriors? Latest injury update for Lakers' rookie (July 7)

After an underwhelming Summer League debut on Saturday against the Sacramento Kings, LA Lakers rookie Bronny James missed Sunday’s game against the Golden State Warriors due to a minor injury.

LeBron James’ son is nursing “trace swelling” in his left knee, as reported by Mike Trudell, and was held out of the game for precautionary reasons.

Despite this, Bronny is expected to return to play on Wednesday against the Miami Heat.

In his Summer League debut, Bronny James struggled, shooting 2-for-9 from the field for four points, missing all three of his 3-point attempts, and adding two assists, two rebounds and a steal in just under 22 minutes of action.

He scored his first NBA points on a driving layup in the second quarter, drawing cheers from the crowd at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

Bronny James injury update

Bronny was drafted 55th overall by the Lakers, despite being projected as a top-10 pick at one point.

His draft stock fell after he suffered a cardiac arrest in college, raising concerns about his ability to play. However, he has been relatively healthy since then.

The trace swelling in his knee is not considered serious, and he is only being held out as a precaution.

Medically, “trace” indicates a very small quantity, and the swelling is expected to subside before the Lakers’ last Summer League game against the Heat on Wednesday.

After his cardiac arrest, Bronny appeared in 25 games for the USC Trojans, averaging 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 36.6% from the field and 26.7% from beyond the arc.

Bronny James talks about feeling rookie jitters after Summer League debut

Despite being accustomed to the spotlight as LeBron’s son, Bronny James admitted to feeling nervous during his Summer League debut.

“Every first game that I step on the next level there’s always some butterflies in my stomach, but as soon as the ball tips and we go a couple times down it all goes away and I’m just playing basketball,” he said (per AP). “It’s always going to be there but get through it.”

On Saturday, the 19-year-old received cheers from the away crowd in San Francisco.

“The atmosphere, it was more than I expected,” Bronny said. “It’s a big game for me, but I didn’t know the people of Golden State would come and rep for me, so that was pretty nice to see.”

Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Bronny is expected to spend the majority of his time in the NBA G-League for development. Bronny signed a four-year, $7.9 million contract with a team option for the fourth season with the Lakers.