Charles Barkley: ‘We can’t say nothing bad about Bronny’

If Charles Barkley wanted to say anything critical of Bronny James, LeBron James has already made him think better of it.

Barkley often seems eager to criticize LeBron James or the Los Angeles Lakers, and even his colleagues at ESPN, who love to talk about LeBron and the Lakers. But as far as saying something bad about Bronny James, Barkley made it clear he’s not willing to go there.

While Inside the NBA was airing game highlights of the Lakers’ 131-107 win over the Utah Jazz to close out their regular-season Sunday night, Barkley had nothing but praise for Bronny as he was shown hitting a three-pointer. Anything to avoid the wrath of LeBron.

“I’ll tell you what, we can’t say nothing bad about Bronny,” Barkley said. “We don’t want Bron walking up on us on center court.”

Barkley was obviously referring to the time LeBron confronted Stephen A. Smith at center court during a Lakers game last season, supposedly over the First Take host’s previous commentary on Bronny James. The two stood face to face during a timeout, with Smith later claiming he would have ‘swung’ if LeBron took the first swipe.

The altercation was embarrassing for both parties involved. James later fanned the flames during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, and Smith fired back in a scathing, albeit long-winded and rambling, rebuttal on his YouTube channel. And after witnessing what Smith’s criticisms of LeBron and Bronny morphed into, Barkley has no interest in getting lured into a similar feud.

To LeBron’s credit, he’s largely allowed unjust commentary of Bronny to continue, only standing in the way of Stephen A. Smith, literally. But more than LeBron being a legitimate deterrent to criticism of his NBA teammate and son, the real reason to avoid excessively negative commentary on Bronny is that, at this point in his career, he’s a 12th man at best. And when we’re talking about the NBA playoffs, Bronny James doesn’t really factor into the conversation.