Rachel Nichols slams Bronny James critics for 'unfair' expectations

Rachel Nichols believes Bronny James critics are unfairly analyzing the Lakers’ second-round pick.

While discussing the 19-year-old rookie on Wednesday’s episode of FS1’s “Undisputed,” Nichols detailed why the criticism surrounding LeBron James’ son has been “totally unfair,” noting his status as the 55th overall pick in this year’s NBA draft.

“I think people look at him like he’s a top-10 pick. He’s not a top-10 pick, he’s a No. 55 pick,” Nichols said. “The expectation for a No. 55 pick should be that you’re going to be primarily in the G League and maybe play some games in the NBA.”

The former ESPN personality then called attention to last year’s 55th overall pick, Isaiah Wong, “who played four total minutes in the NBA” for the Pacers.

“He didn’t average four minutes a game in the NBA, he played four minutes total and that happened in one game,” Nichols said of Wong, who appeared briefly in Indiana’s loss to the Lakers in the season finale.

“To evaluate Bronny next to the top 10 picks versus what other players at 55th have done is totally unfair. And obviously that’s going to happen, we all look at him more because of who he is and the fact that he plays for the Lakers, let’s not forget that too, plus he’s LeBron’s son. But he’s not playing at a level that much lower than other players that have been in his position and played in the past.”

Nichols then brought up Alex Sarr, the Wizards’ No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft who failed to score in 30 minutes of action in an NBA Summer League game earlier this week, before highlighting Lakers coach JJ Redick’s suggestion that Bronny is a “developmental player.”

“Bronny James is a No. 55 pick. JJ Redick said he was a developmental player, we all knew that going in, so to sit there and criticize him for his Summer League numbers, like I’ve said many times, stats don’t matter in Summer League. We’ve seen guys have bad Summer Leagues and go on to have good NBA careers,” Nichols said.

“Bronny has to get used to the speed of the game in Summer League, he has to get used to new coaches, new teammates and new schemes, and he has to get used to the attention that he gets, because that’s one of the other things I saw on the sidelines of that game Monday night between the Celtics and the Lakers: Every time he touched the ball, the crowd came alive. And when he finally scored in the fourth quarter, there was this outpouring of anger, like we’ve seen in some of his other games, fans bashing the coach from the stands saying, ‘Give Bronny the ball, give Bronny the ball.’ Nobody wants that as a player.”

Nichols then said Bronny has to “earn that damn ball, and he knows he hasn’t done it yet, which is good. That’s who he is at this point.”

“…It feels like a lot, so I think the key for him is to get used to it and the stats, for me, will follow,” she said.

Nichols’ comments Wednesday came hours before Bronny’s impressive Summer League outing, in which he scored 12 points in the Lakers’ 87-86 win over the Hawks.

“I just tried to forget about all the shots I missed, forget about all the games we lost,” Bronny told ESPN after the game. “I just tried to play my game and do my best every time I step on the court.”

Before Wednesday’s game, Bronny — who played one season at USC before entering the NBA draft — left the door open to the G-Leauge.