Charles Barkley has never been the type to mince words and he went off on the Los Angeles Lakers during an appearance on Bettor Angle on Saturday. Barkley was asked about his thoughts on how LeBron James and the Lakers have handled the whole Bronny James situation and he made it clear he hasn’t liked what he has seen.
“Awful,” Barkley said. “… It was so funny, I was taping that match with Ken Griffey Jr. way before the season started. He was telling me him and his dad were gonna go out to that first game. And then I was with my foolish friends later like, ‘You think Bronny is going to make the opening day roster?’ I’m like, ‘There’s a 100% chance.’
“I said, ‘There’s no way in the world Nike is flying Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. out there and Bronny don’t get on the court with his dad,” Barkley stated. “… But I thought it was great. A little ceremony of (your) first game, but the kid is not ready to play in the NBA. He should be in the G-League so he can play basketball. He not gonna get better sitting on the bench.
“But also, this thing where he’s only gonna play home games,” Barkley continued. “… It’s not fair to him. It’s not fair to the team. Can you imagine the coach of that team? You come off a road trip and there’s a player you ain’t seen in a week or two and then you feel like you probably gotta play him.
“So, I don’t think they doing Bronny any favors,” Barkley added. “They just handled this thing really bad. It’s a bad look for the Lakers… I really like everything LeBron’s done, but this is a bad look for him, in my opinion.”
Barkley is the latest to criticize the Lakers for deciding that Bronny will only play home games in the G League for the South Bay Lakers. It is still unclear if the team came to that decision by itself or whether the James household played a big role in it.
Regardless, I agree with Barkley that this is not ideal for Bronny’s development. For him to grow as a player, he needs to play games consistently and instead, he’s just sitting on the bench for the Lakers.
Bronny, who was selected with the 55th pick of the 2024 NBA Draft, has played six games for the Lakers so far and is averaging just 2.7 minutes. In that time, the 20-year-old has put up 0.7 points, 0.2 rebounds, 0.3 assists, and 0.2 steals per game.
It has been crystal clear for a while that Bronny isn’t ready to play in the NBA, so it isn’t a surprise he hasn’t made much of an impact. What is a surprise, though, is how he has played in the G League.
Bronny has averaged just 5.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game for the South Bay Lakers. He hasn’t been efficient either, shooting 21.1% from the field and 0% from beyond the arc. There have been some positive signs, but he hasn’t been very impressive overall.
Bronny does have time on his hands, as he is still so young, so perhaps one day he will turn out to be a solid NBA player. Just don’t expect it to happen anytime soon, though,
We might see Bronny in action next when the Lakers take on the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center on Tuesday at 10 PM ET in an NBA Cup game. He has missed the last two games due to a left heel contusion, so it’s unclear if he’ll be available for that clash with the Suns.
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