Charles Barkley Rips Lakers' Handling Of Bronny James, 'Awful'

Charles Barkley is making it clear -- he hates the way the Lakers are handling Bronny James' rookie season ... calling it flat-out "stupid."

The Round Mound of Rebound went in on L.A. during an appearance on "The Bettor Angle" over the weekend ... after he was asked if he liked the Lakers' G League plan for LeBron's oldest son so far.

If you've missed it, the 20-year-old has been playing home games for the South Bay Lakers ... before joining Dad's squad for road tilts.

Barkley said the whole thing has been "awful" -- and if he were in charge of L.A. ... he said things would be very different.

"The kid's not ready to play in the NBA," Barkley said. "And, he should be in the G League [full time] so he can play basketball. He's not going to get better sitting on the bench."

The Hall of Famer continued, "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."

Barkley added the schedule puts a big-time strain on L.A.'s coaches ... and he actually said LeBron deserves plenty of blame for the situation.

"Like, 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 got to play him," Barkley said.

"I really like everything Lebron's done, but this is a bad look for him, in my opinion."