The Los Angeles Lakers dismissed Bronny James from the roster and sent him down to the G-League full-time. The curious move came after NBA legend Charles Barkley roasted the Lakers for pampering the eldest son of LeBron James.
On Wednesday the Lakers announced the rookie guard is assigned full-time to the South Bay Lakers. That means Bronny won’t play in Lakers games with his father any time soon.
Bronny has been missing in action since former NFL player Ryan Clark badmouthed Bronny for refusing to travel to away games with the South Bay Lakers.
“What Has Bronny James Earned?,” Clark (pictured left) tweeted. “What has Bronny James done where he should be too good to fly commercial?,” Clark said during his podcast “The Pivot”.
“You don’t get treated differently because of your parents. You get treated differently because of your ability to contribute,” Clark added.
Charles Barkley was more blunt. “The kid is not ready to play in the NBA. He should be in the G League, so he can play basketball,” Barkley said during a recent appearance on the Bettor Angle podcast.
Barkley criticized the Lakers and LeBron James for coddling Bronny. “They’ve handled it awful,” Barkley said. “I thought it was great, a little ceremony his 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,” Barkley added. “He’s not going to get better sitting on the bench. This thing where he’s only gonna play home games? It’s stupid. It’s not fair to him. It’s not fair to the team. Can you imagine the coach of that team?”
Barkley said Bronny’s refusal to play away games isn’t fair to his G League teammates or his coach.
“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. I don’t think they’re doing Bronny any favors and they just handled this thing really bad. It’s a bad look for the Lakers and I honestly think — I really like everything LeBron’s done — this is a bad look for him, in my opinion,” he said.
Bronny made his G-League debut earlier this month. The team is 2-4 on the season.
