"They mad now": Gilbert Arenas sends message to Bronny James' haters as LeBron James' son joins exclusive rookie club

It really has been a tumultuous month for Bronny James conversations at the NBA level. We saw Stephen A. Smith being confronted by LeBron James in what was a message to all the non-believers. And now the Lakers rookie appears to be ready to do all the talking with his game.

More recently, Gilbert Arenas, who has been a voice of active support for Bronny, jumped to his support yet again, calling out the haters.

After Bronny James' 17-point, 5-assist performance against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks in the absence of LeBron and Luka Doncic, the tide seems to have shifted in his favor. Cynics seemingly are convinced of his potential as a legitimate NBA contributor.

Gilbert Arenas, who is known for his hot takes, had surprisingly been a voice of reason in Bronny's favor ever since he was drafted by the Lakers. And on this occasion where James Jr. got to shut the haters up, Arenas shared his happiness at the moment, lauding Bronny James for his resilience.

"Oh they Mad NOW @bronny. The Prince is Fighting back," captioned Arenas on his Instagram story earlier on Friday, as he shared Bronny's statline from the game.

Gilbert Arenas' Instagram story in support of Bronny James - Source: [email protected]

With this performance, the Lakers guard joined an exclusive club of rookies to have a performance as good as his 17-point, 5-assist, 3-rebound game. The doubters may finally be moving to the believer's corner, where Gilbert Arenas set up camp along with LeBron James and the Lakers a long time back.

Gilbert Arenas had previously backed Bronny James to be in the ROTY conversation with more game time

The former Wizards star raised eyebrows earlier in March when he said that the former USC guard is good enough to warrant ROTY consideration if he got more playing time. Arenas' statement came on the back of the Lakers guard's impressive run in the G-League.

"If Bronny James played 36 mpg, he’d average 12 PPG, 4 RPG & 4 APG. He'd be top 5 for ROTY," said Arenas, after a dominant run in the NBA's development league by the Lakers rookie.

While 36 minutes a game in this iteration of the Lakers is a tough ask from the rookie, it is likely now that Bronny will grow into a solid rotation piece for the Lakers with time. Having grown into his own with time, the critics are mighty silent now and the redemption arc of the "Prince" might just be upon us.