A meaningless preseason game? For the Los Angeles Lakers, their lopsided 81-103 defeat at the hands of the Phoenix Suns was anything but. With superstars LeBron James and Luka Dončić watching from the sidelines, this was a golden opportunity for the team’s younger talent to make a statement. Instead, the game devolved into a showcase of poor execution and raised serious questions about the team’s readiness for the upcoming season, with Bronny James at the center of the storm.

For Bronny, son of the legendary LeBron, the night was a brutal reality check. Entering his second NBA season, he was given significant playing time—24 minutes, the second-most on the team—to demonstrate his summer progress to new head coach JJ Redick. He failed to seize the moment. In a performance that lit up social media for all the wrong reasons, James finished with a shocking 1-for-12 shooting line from the field, including 1-for-8 from beyond the arc.

It was a difficult watch. Shot after shot, many of them open looks, clanked off the rim. Ironically, his sole made basket was arguably his toughest attempt of the night: a step-back three-pointer off a pick-and-roll. While he salvaged his stat line slightly by getting to the free-throw line and making five of his six attempts, the damage was done. A 1-for-12 night is the kind of performance that can erode a coach’s confidence and set a player back in the rotation battle.

However, the real cause for concern came after the final buzzer. When asked about his performance, Bronny defended his shot selection but offered a worrying explanation for the results. “I feel they were pretty good shots. I wasn’t rushing, not trying to force it,” he told reporters. “I feel like my legs weren’t as healthy as I wanted them to be, so a lot of my shots were short. Most of my shots were on line, and I feel like I could have hit them.”

For a second-year player fighting for his place, admitting your “legs weren’t as healthy” as they should be in the first week of October is a massive red flag. It points to potential issues with offseason conditioning and preparation—qualities essential for any young player trying to carve out a role in the league.

Bronny’s comment becomes even more alarming when paired with Coach Redick’s own assessment of the team’s status. Redick pulled no punches, admitting that the Lakers are lagging significantly behind their competitors. “The reality is, and this is not an excuse, they [the Suns] have had 19 guys training together all of September,” Redick stated. “They’ve already established a similar style to what we did last year… they are ahead of us in that regard.”

Redick’s candid admission paints a picture of a team that is not only trying to find its rhythm but is fundamentally behind schedule. This is a critical issue for a Lakers squad facing immense pressure. After trading for superstar Luka Dončić last season, the entire 2025-26 campaign is about building a new system around him. That challenge has been magnified by Dončić’s summer commitment to the Slovenian national team at EuroBasket, which kept him away from the team’s early preparations.

The result is a rookie head coach tasked with designing and implementing a new offensive and defensive identity without his primary offensive engine present for training camp. It’s a recipe for a slow start. The blowout loss, Bronny’s shooting struggles, and the frank admissions from both player and coach are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a larger, more troubling issue: a team with championship aspirations that appears to be worryingly unprepared for the marathon season ahead.