Matt Barnes believes LeBron James bolting to Philly was the best thing for Bronny James‘ career!

TMZ Sports caught up with the retired NBA player-turned-podcasting star at Ryan Garcia‘s open workout in Los Angeles this week … and Barnes weighed in on one of the league’s most polarizing hoopers.

“A lot of people wanna say his dad got him drafted, and that may be true, may not be true,” Matt told us. “But Bronny has a lot of talent, and I just thought if he would’ve stayed just one more year, he could’ve did it on his own.”

Of course, that’s neither here nor there … ’cause the 21-year-old is a Laker with a guaranteed contract heading into his third season, and MB thinks he’s primed for his best year.

“I think it’s great now that obviously Bron is gone and Bronny is kinda on his own. I think that’s something that he was kinda looking forward to, to kinda just say, ‘hey, I can do this without my dad.’”

FYI, Bronny’s averaging 2.7 points per game (in 8.1 minutes) as a pro.

As for any advice the 14-year NBA vet may have for the younger James, Matt was blunt.