Bronny James scores four points in Los Angeles Lakers debut

Bronny James took his place in the starting lineup for Los Angeles and his professional career is formally underway after his Lakers debut on Saturday.

He wore the No 9 jersey, not to be confused with the No 6 uniform his father, and now teammate, LeBron James sported before switching to No 23.

The younger James, who was drafted by the Los Angeles with the 55th overall selection in the second round out of the University of Southern California, wound up 2 for 9 for four points, missing all three of his threes, with a pair of assists, two rebounds and a steal in just under 22 minutes of court time as the Lakers lost 108-94 to the Sacramento Kings in the Summer League.

James missed his initial two shots while playing nearly six minutes in his first run of action – grabbing a defensive rebound then missing a 21ft jump shot moments later. He came up short on a 26ft three-point try at the 4:23 mark of the opening quarter before getting a breather.

“Every first game that I step into the next level, it’s always some butterflies in my stomach,” James said after the game. “But as soon as the ball tips and we go a couple times down, it all goes away and I’m just playing basketball. So it’s always going to be there, but I’ll get through it.”

James received cheers and a warm ovation when he returned to the court in the second quarter. Then, at last, James scored his first NBA points on a driving layup 5:51 before halftime. He missed a pair of free throws at the 4:43 mark of the third period in his first trip to the line.

At one point during his warmup routine the 6ft 2in guard stood with hands on hips in a pose reminiscent of his father. He will most likely get another chance to play on Sunday, when the Lakers face the Golden State Warriors in their next game of the Summer League, an off-season tournament in which teams experiment with younger players, free-agents and backups.

If all goes as planned, the 19-year-old James and his dad will become the first father-son pair to play in the NBA at the same time – and on the same team no less.

Bronny is the oldest son of LeBron, the NBA’s career scoring leader. Bronny survived a cardiac arrest last July during a team workout at USC and it was later determined he had a congenital heart defect. The younger James signed a four-year contract this month that will pay him $7.9m.

Dalton Knecht, this year’s first-round draft pick for the Lakers, scored 12 points on Saturday. Adonis Arms top-scored for the Kings with 32 points.