Charles Barkley rips Lakers, LeBron James for ‘Stupid’ Bronny James Plan

The Los Angeles Lakers are on a roll to start the 2024-25 season with a 10-6 record with Thanksgiving just around the corner. Predictably absent from the court for most of the opening season stretch has been Bronny James, the son of LeBron, whom the Lakers drafted with the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA draft. After getting his moment in the sun with his father on opening night, the 20-year-old guard has played a total of 12 minutes and 26 seconds; his only chance for serious playing time comes in the G-League.

However, the Lakers have a strange plan for Bronny in the lower tier. After the season started for the South Bay Lakers, it was revealed that the younger James would only play in home games when it comes to the G-League. It’s an odd decision, and one Charles Barkley takes great issue with.

Talking about Bettor angle podcast, Barkley ripped the Lakers and LeBron for greenlighting the plan, calling it “stupid” and a “bad look” for player and franchise.

“This thing where he’s only going to play home games? It’s stupid,” Barkley said. “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 haven’t seen in a week or two. And then do you feel like you’ll probably play him. I don’t think they’re doing Bronny any favors and they’ve just handled this really badly – it’s a bad look for him, in my opinion.”

It seems detrimental to Bronny’s development. The Lakers are all in on winning games this year, and everyone agrees that the younger James is not ready to contribute to winning basketball. It should therefore stand to reason that LA would be invested in ensuring that he still gets playing time with South Bay. Instead, the organization only lets Bronny dip half a toe in the water before pulling him back so he can ride the bench until the fight is far, far out of reach one way or the other.

In two games played for the South Bay Lakers so far, James has averaged five points and three assists in 28.5 minutes per game.