Lakers guard Bronny James shines during ugly loss to Cleveland

CLEVELAND- He hears it in almost every arena the Lakers enter.

“We want Bronny. We want Bronny.”

But Monday night at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, where the familiar chant reached decibels filling the arena, the feeling was different. It felt like home.

Bronny James provided some of the Lakers’ few highlights during the team’s worst loss of the year — a 129-99 drubbing of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday — to turn an emotional homecoming for his father into a happy homecoming for the 21-year-old. James scored eight points with two rebounds, an assist and a steal. He knocked down two three-pointers and threw down a one-handed transition dunk to elicit a roar from the crowd who welcomed back a son they watched grow up.

Laker Bronny James #9 of the Los Angeles Lakers shakes hands with Larry Nance Jr. of the Cavliers on Wednesday.

(Jason Miller/Getty Images)

“I was just excited to go play there,” James said. “I’m always ready to go out and play, whether it’s when the whole arena says ‘We want Bronny’ or no one does. I was just really, really grateful that they put me in at that time and I was able to go out and get some buckets.”

With the Lakers trailing by 20 in the third quarter, the chants for James started early. “We want Bronny” chants occur at almost every Lakers game, almost turning the young guard’s playing time into a spectacle instead of much-needed opportunities for a developing player trying to find his place in the NBA.

James hadn’t played in a game since January 18 and hadn’t scored since January 12. But he got on the scoreboard in exciting fashion Wednesday night, knocking down a crossover pass and taking the ball in transition for a dunk that even left his father nodding approvingly from the bench.

“He handles it all so well,” said guard Gabe Vincent, who called Bronny a “light” during the Lakers’ otherwise forgettable blowout. “It’s incredible. His maturity through all of this is incredible. … It’s great to see him have a moment like that.”

The former USC guard who also scored his first NBA points in Cleveland as a rookie last year has bounced between the Lakers and the team’s G League affiliate this year as he hopes to make strides as a shooter and on-ball defender while “building up his tolerance for being in elite shape,” coach JJ Redick said. James had some promising moments, particularly when the Lakers were shorthanded earlier this season, showing faster decision-making and increased confidence shooting the ball.

Monday was only the second time in his career he made two threes in a game.

“He’s as balanced and as normal for a 21-year-old as I’ve ever known him,” Redick said.

When the Lakers arrived at the arena Monday, James was greeted home by a childhood photo of himself on a screen outside the visitors’ locker room. He showed it on stage in 2016 during the Cavaliers’ championship celebration wearing a championship cap and white t-shirt, raising one finger.

LeBron James took a look at this team’s championship banner before Monday’s game, fueling the intense emotions of what could be his final game in his hometown against the team that launched his NBA dreams in 2003.

The Cavaliers, wearing navy blue uniforms, played a video tribute to LeBron James during the first quarter, highlighting James’ takeover in Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals in which he scored 25 consecutive points. Bronny was 3 years old at the time. Nearly two decades later, he remembered all the afternoons he spent at the Cavaliers arena after school.

“It’s literally my whole life,” Bronny said of the city of Cleveland. “So I really appreciate everyone showing a little love. I just remember being a kid and being here almost every day after school. It’s a bunch of nostalgia to come back and be here.”

The James family was prepared for the occasion. LeBron scanned the arena before the game to find his mother in a suite. She had once watched him begin his career in this arena, now she watched her son and grandson play in the same match. After saying it out loud, the elder James struggled to process five ideas.

“I don’t even know how to fit all of this into my brain,” LeBron James said. “It’s so weird, so cool and so surreal. My mom gets to watch her son and her grandson play in the NBA at the same time.”

Gloria James waited in the hallway outside the Lakers locker room to take photos with her son and then her grandson. Bronny was the last Laker to exit the arena, stopping to take dozens of photos with family members dressed in purple and gold Lakers jerseys. His grandmother told him to “act right.” He promised to oblige.