Stephen A. Smith sends direct message to LeBron after Bronny’s huge game: ‘Are you listening?’

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With the Los Angeles Lakers severely undermanned against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday, rookie guard Bronny James got a chance to play his most minutes in an NBA game all season, and he took full advantage.

The son of Lakers star LeBron James put together his best NBA performance yet, dropping 17 points, three rebounds and five assists while shooting 7-for-10 from the field and 2-for-4 from deep.

On Friday, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith broke down the younger James’ performance and admitted that he might’ve been wrong in believing that the rookie needed to spend his rookie season in the G League.

“This is the big picture here that I want to bring up,” Smith began. “I might have been wrong. Are you listening, LeBron James? Are you listening, James family? Are you listening, Rich Paul? Are you listening, all of you people?

“… My position was all along, Bronny James needs to be in the G League. … Let him be in the G League his first year, and then after that, let him come on because I’ve always believed that this kid has the potential once I watched him to be in the NBA.

“But what I saw last night made me say to myself, wait a minute, he keeps showing up and playing like that, J.J. Redick and his staff obviously doing an exceptional job coaching him, the G Leaguers obviously doing a good job of preparing him, him sitting on the bench, learning, watching the Lakers players, being in practice with them sometimes, evidently, that seems to be working for him.

“And if that kind of stuff continues, then indeed he’ll be in the league as a bona fide player sooner than later.”

Smith’s comments are particularly interesting due to the viral interaction he had with the elder James earlier this month.

The Lakers got smoked by the Bucks on Thursday, but the younger James’ performance continued a trend of him showing major signs of growth.

Including his strong showing against Milwaukee, he’s now shooting 57.7 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from deep over his last eight NBA appearances (with his playing time in those games ranging from virtually nothing to the roughly 30 minutes he played on Thursday).

The 20-year-old is starting to prove that he does indeed have an NBA skill set. While there are no guarantees that he will play anywhere close to 30 minutes in another NBA game this season, his improvement may force Redick to find ways to get him on the floor more often.

The younger James has spent considerable time in the G League this season but has also been with Redick’s Lakers plenty. In 16 appearances with the South Bay Lakers, he has averaged 17.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per contest. Meanwhile, he has now appeared in 22 NBA games this season, though his minutes have often been light in those outings.

While the Lakers’ primary focus right now must be to gear up for the playoffs, it’s hard to avoid being excited about the future of the younger James, who may end up sticking around in the NBA for a long time if his current trajectory continues.