The Los Angeles Lakers‘ LeBron James offered a strong message of support to Bryce Young by telling him to hold his head high, after the Carolina Panthers‘ quarterback found himself benched just two weeks into the 2024/25 NFL season.

The Panthers are 0-2 once again and have only scored 13 points through their opening two fixtures whilst allowing 73 against them, whilst Young threw for 245 yards and three interceptions and zero touchdowns in his only game against the New Orleans Saints.

And as a result, the overall first pick of the 2023 NFL Draft sat out the game against the Los Angeles Chargers on September 15, although the Panthers’ fortunes didn’t improve as they slumped to a 26-3 loss, leading to James’ offer of support.

“Bryce Young hold ya head Young !!,” James posted on X.com, formerly Twitter. “Rooting for you and know this ain’t on you!

“Continue to put the work in and it shall prevail!”

Since being drafted in 2023 from Alabama, the 23-year-old Heisman Trophy winner has completed 346 passes from 583 attempts for 3122 yards and 11 touchdowns, but has also thrown for 13 interceptions.

In that time, the Panthers have only managed to win twice whilst losing the other 17 games as they find themselves rooted to the bottom of the NFC South in the seventh year on from their last playoffs appearance.

The Panthers attempted to shake up the order during their NFL offseason by recruiting Dave Canales as their new head coach, who will work alongside a new general manager in the form of Dan Morgan although their luck hasn’t improved as of yet.

Who do the Panthers play next?

The Panthers will look to claim a rare victory when they head to the Allegiant Stadium in Nevada to take on the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, September 22 with the game scheduled to kick off at 16:05 ET/13:05 PT.

The game will be broadcast live by CBS.