LeBron James had a stern message for LaVar Ball, the outspoken father of UCLA’s Lonzo Ball, and he didn’t hold back on Tuesday.

Last week, LaVar criticized James’ 12-year-old son, LeBron James Jr., claiming LeBron Jr.’s basketball future would be held back because his father is an NBA superstar. James was not pleased.

James told ESPN:

“Keep my kids’ name out of your mouth, keep my family out of your mouth. This is dad to dad. It’s a problem now.”

LeBron Jr., is a star player on the North Coast Bluechips AAU team, and he’s already attracted attention from some of the top college basketball programs like Kentucky and Duke.

When asked about LeBron’s sons last week, LaVar told 247 Sports:

“You got LeBron, it’s gonna be so hard for his kids, cause they gonna look at them like ‘you gotta be just like your dad.’ And after a while that pressure starts sitting on you like ‘why do I gotta be like him, why can’t I just be me?’ And then they’re gonna be like ‘aw, you’re soft, you’re not that good.’ Because the expectation is very, very high. “My sons are good, they’re great,” Ball said. “But let’s say I really excelled in football and made millions of millions of dollars. Do I spent that time with them now? — No, I have to worry about the offseason and I just buy you a trainer and hope that you turn out okay. Whereas the fact that I wasn’t all that, allows me to take the time to make my boys all that.”

The quote clearly struck a nerve with LeBron.

Update: Ball responded to James. “I have no problem with LeBron, they asked me a question about if I thought superstar players’ kids were good. My opinion is I’ve never seen one that’s been really good. LeBron is going to make his kids one of the best players ever according to him,” he said on FOX Sports Radio’s JT “The Brick” with Tomm Looney show.