LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bronny James is expected to begin splitting time between the Lakers and the team's G League affiliate, even though coach JJ Redick said those plans could change.
ESPN reported Friday that James will be going between the two teams after the Lakers complete a five-game trip Nov. 6. The South Bay Lakers begin their G League season on Nov. 9 against the Salt Lake City Stars.
“Our plans are always fluid based on real time,” Redick said Friday before the Lakers faced the Phoenix Suns. "I believe we have two guys dressing today that as of yesterday we’re not dressing out.
“The plan for Bronny to move between the Lakers and South Bay has always been the plan since day one. (General manager) Rob (Pelinka) and I have talked about that. LeBron's talked about that.”
Bronny James was the 55th overall pick in the June draft after one season in college at Southern California. Most second-round picks during their rookie seasons spend time in the G League and are on two-way contracts.
Bronny James — who averaged 4.2 points and 16.2 minutes of playing time in six preseason games. — dressed but did not play Friday night in the Lakers' 123-116 victory over the Phoenix Suns. He played 3 minutes Tuesday night in the Lakers’ 110-103 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Lakers host Sacramento on Saturday before going on the trip. The second game on the trip is to Cleveland on Wednesday. LeBron James, an Akron native, played 11 seasons for the Cavaliers and led them to an NBA championship in 2016. The younger James was also born in Akron in 2004.
The father said during Lakers media day last month that he expected his son to split time between the NBA and the G League.
“Seeing him continue to grow as a basketball player, no matter if it’s here with us or if it’s down with the G League team, and him continuing to get better and better,” he said. “We want to hold him accountable. He’s going to hold us accountable, and if we all do that, we’ll all get better, because we’re all one team. We are a reflection of the South Bay. The South Bay is a reflection of us. ... We’ll continue to grow, stacking days. I know he’s going to do that, because that’s just what he’s about.”
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Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) and guard Bronny James (9) stand on the court during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James warms up before an NBA basketball game against the Phoenix Suns in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel said Sunday that the body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found after he was killed in what it described as a “heinous antisemitic terror incident.”
The statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel “will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death.” There was no immediate comment from the UAE.
Zvi Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Thursday, ran a Kosher grocery store in the futuristic city of Dubai, where Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.
The agreement has held through more than a year of soaring regional tensions unleashed by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack into southern Israel. But Israel's devastating retaliatory offensive in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon, after months of fighting with the Hezbollah militant group, have stoked anger among Emiratis, Arab nationals and others living in the the UAE.
Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, has also been threatening to retaliate against Israel after a wave of airstrikes Israel carried out in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
The Emirati government did not respond to a request for comment.
Early Sunday, the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency acknowledged Kogan’s disappearance but pointedly did not acknowledge he held Israeli citizenship, referring to him only as being Moldovan. The Emirati Interior Ministry described Kogan as being “missing and out of contact.”
“Specialized authorities immediately began search and investigation operations upon receiving the report,” the Interior Ministry said.
Netanyahu told a regular Cabinet meeting later Sunday that he was “deeply shocked” by Kogan's disappearance and death. He said he appreciated the cooperation of the UAE in the investigation and said that ties between the two countries would continue to be strengthened.
Israel's largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the killing and thanked Emirati authorities for "their swift action." He said he trusts they “will work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Kogan was an emissary of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of ultra-Orthodox Judaism based in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood in New York City. It said he was last seen in Dubai. The UAE has a burgeoning Jewish community, with synagogues and businesses catering to kosher diners.
The Rimon Market, a Kosher grocery store that Kogan managed on Dubai’s busy Al Wasl Road, was shut Sunday. As the wars have roiled the region, the store has been the target of online protests by supporters of the Palestinians. Mezuzahs on the front and the back doors of the market appeared to have been ripped off when an Associated Press journalist stopped by on Sunday.
Kogan’s wife, Rivky, is a U.S. citizen who lived with him in the UAE. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The UAE is an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and is also home to Abu Dhabi. Local Jewish officials in the UAE declined to comment.
While the Israeli statement did not mention Iran, Iranian intelligence services have carried out past kidnappings in the UAE.
Western officials believe Iran runs intelligence operations in the UAE and keeps tabs on the hundreds of thousands of Iranians living across the country.
Iran is suspected of kidnapping and later killing British Iranian national Abbas Yazdi in Dubai in 2013, though Tehran has denied involvement. Iran also kidnapped Iranian German national Jamshid Sharmahd in 2020 from Dubai, taking him back to Tehran, where he was executed in October.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates
A man walks past Rimon Market, a Kosher grocery store managed by the late Rabbi Zvi Kogan, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)
