Stephen A. Smith says people close to LeBron contacted him after he trashed Bronny

In Tuesday’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers, Lakers rookie Bronny James, son of franchise star LeBron, was given a chance to play meaningful minutes for the squad.

Unfortunately, the experiment didn’t go too well, with the younger James struggling and L.A. ultimately falling by double digits.

The next day, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who doesn’t believe the younger James is ready for the NBA yet, made some viral comments, pleading with the elder James “as a father” to “stop this.”

Those comments apparently caught the attention of some people close to the elder James.

“I was on ‘First Take,’ my day job on ESPN, earlier this morning, and I spoke about this, and I felt the need to elaborate even further because a couple of people texted me and pissed me off, and they know who they are,” Smith said earlier this week. “People close to LeBron James, talking to me about questioning him as a father — come on, y’all. I mean, it’s gotten to a point where this LeBron sensitivity is just beyond the pale.”

In the game against the 76ers, the younger James finished scoreless after shooting 0-for-5 from the field and 0-for-3 from deep. On the other end of the floor, he did his best to hold up but had some tough buckets scored on him.

In Thursday’s game against the Washington Wizards, the Lakers built enough of a lead through three quarters that they were able to give the younger James some low-pressure run. He wound up playing the entire fourth quarter, finishing with five points on 1-for-6 shooting from the field, 0-for-2 shooting from deep and 3-for-3 shooting from the line.

The rookie has split time between the NBA and G League this season. While his NBA minutes usually haven’t been pretty, he has had some flashes of brilliance at the G League level.

The younger James is still just 20 years old, so he has plenty of time to get his footing and prove that he belongs in the NBA. But in the meantime, people like Smith don’t seem to think that he should be getting important minutes, an argument that will certainly be defensible unless the youngster starts to show that he’s more NBA-ready.

The Lakers are 27-19 this season and currently hold a playoff spot in the Western Conference as they look to establish themselves as contenders.