Arizona guard Bryce James, the son of NBA superstar LeBron James, has yet to play in his team’s first three games of the 2025-26 season, including the Wildcats’ 84-49 win over Northern Arizona on Tuesday. While it’s common for players not in the regular rotation to play in nonconfrence games in garbage time, James has yet to make an appearance, creating speculation on when or if he will play this season.
After the game, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said that redshirting James and his teammate, Mabil Mawut, is “on the table.”
“No final decisions have been made,” Lloyd said. “It’s tough. It puts you in a tough situation. You play Bryce in a game like this [against Northern Arizona] for three minutes, it burns a year of eligibility. I wish it was easier.
“I wish there was a set number of games you could play a guy like they have in football. I think that would make sense for some of these kids, but we don’t. I want Bryce to have the best college basketball career and the most options in his college basketball career long-term, whatever that looks like. Throwing a kid with a lot of potential that’s developing, he or Mabil, a few garbage minutes — it might feel good now, but potentially down the line it could be something you regret.”
James, a three-star recruit out of Sierra Canyon High School in Chatsworth, California, committed to Arizona earlier this calendar year after receiving offers from Duquesne and Ohio State. James was not expected to play a significant role for the Wildcats this season due to the depth of the roster, which is why a redshirt year could make sense for his long-term development as a college player.
Why redshirting James is the right move for Arizona
Arizona finished with the No. 2-ranked recruiting class in the 2025 cycle in the 247Sports team rankings. The Wildcats landed five-star recruits Brayden Burries and Koa Peat and signed five more players: Dwayne Aristode, Sidi Gueye, Ivan Kharchenkov, Mawut and James.
The Wildcats also returned key players from last year’s team like Jaden Bradley, Anthony Dell’Orso, Tobe Awaka and Motiejus Krivas. The amount of talent returning and the blue-chip recruits entering the program created an uphill climb for James to log significant minutes as a freshman.
During Arizona’s first three games, Lloyd has been utilizing an eight-man rotation. And it’s worked. The Wildcats recorded an upset win over reigning national champion Florida during the opening night of the season, in large part because of the play of Peat, who finished with 30 points against a stout opposing frontcourt.
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Peat and Burries have been in the starting lineup in each of the first three games, while Gueye, Kharchenkov and Aristode have all played in at least two games — which means all of those players have hypothetically burned their redshirts. In the case of Peat and Burries, that won’t matter much because both project as first-round picks in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Near the end of Arizona’s win over Utah Tech last week, fans started chanting “We want Bryce!” And although it would be logical (on the surface) to get James some minutes this season, utilizing a redshirt year while Arizona has a Final Four-caliber roster will benefit all parties in the long term.
“I have been very direct — redshirting is on the table for him,” Lloyd said. “That’s why he hasn’t played in a game yet. Otherwise he would be playing some minutes in some of these games, especially at the end. We have had multiple conversations with Bryce about it. I think we are on the same page. No final decision has been made. The decision as of now is to protect his opportunity to redshirt. That’s the decision that’s being made.”
So, if you’re expecting James to play a game this season, you may have to wait another year.
