“I never really had a thought of me going to play with my dad.” While many believe that the only reason Bronny James is in the league is because of LeBron, the rookie has stuck with his stance through and through. Heavily accused of nepotism since the draft, the 19-year-old’s claim during the Lakers’ introductory presser was at further risk of being probed by the media. However, the reporters in the room stayed away from asking such questions, which did not sit well with media veteran Jason Whitlock.

Talking about the Lakers presser on his YouTube podcast and not believing what Bronny said about playing with LeBron, Whitlock claimed that reporters likely shied away from any controversial questions for one and only one reason. “Is there nobody in the media, no media organization that gets close enough or led into these press conferences to ask real questions?”

“You have to have the backing of your media outlet to ask the difficult questions and these media outlets just don’t give that sort of backing. They’re so obsessed with access to LeBron that they’re afraid to ask those questions,” Whitlock asserted. Arguably the most popular athlete today, LeBron has a lot of power and influence in the NBA as well as the sports media world.

Moreover, as he heads toward retirement, James has also stepped into the media business with his new pod (Mind The Game) and other ventures. And no media outlet likely wants to end up on his bad side, hoping for a chance to one day work with him. With that in mind, it’s safe to assume that many reporters would be willing to risk their job by probing Bronny even if they believe that he might be getting preferential treatment.

What could have made it even harder for the media was that LeBron was right there in the room during the presser, closely listening to and assessing every question his son was asked.

LeBron James’ streak of silent treatment for the media critics

Whitlock believes that reporters are afraid to ask LeBron and Bronny the tough questions. That might not be far from the truth. Just recently, Fox Sports’ Rachel Nichols suffered the consequences of publicly criticizing Bronny on Live TV. During an episode of Skip Bayless’ Undisputed, Nichols initially had a lot of good things to say about the Lakers rookie, commending his court vision, positive attitude, defensive ability, and more. Soon after came the twist.

Despite the positives, she did not have faith in Bronny’s star potential, “Will he ever be a star? I don’t think so, it does not seem so, just his size and some of the other things about the way he plays. I don’t think he’s a future star player.” And that was enough to get on LeBron’s bad side as he unfollowed Nichols on social media soon after.

While LeBron didn’t publicly criticize any media personnel, his silent treatment is enough for people to notice which media outlets he might have a problem with. Another example of it came a few weeks ago when James unfollowed ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins on multiple platforms after the former champ accused LeBron of stealing the thunder away from the Mavs-Celtics finals.

Notably, LeBron had recently talked about how much he regrets not having Kyrie as his running mate anymore, which led to Perk saying, “Here we go again. Bron weaseling his way into somebody else’s moment… This is not about you! Your team is at home.” Maybe no more media outlets want to lose access to the billionaire superstar like Nichols and Perkins did because of their comments.

What are your thoughts?

Before you go, do not forget to check out what Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the alleged Shaq and Kobe Lakers beef. Keep checking this space for more such updates.