LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith have had their recent rift on full display, and the legendary basketball player is fanning the flames even more this week with new commentary. Bron joined The Pat McAfee Show on March 26 to discuss the viral interaction that occurred between them earlier this month. It’s worth noting the show airs on ESPN, the same network where Smith built his successful career as a sports pundit.
“He’s on, like, a Taylor Swift tour run right now,” James sarcastically said on the show, referring to how the journalist is speaking about the incident quite a bit, contrary to him saying he didn’t want to initially.
“It started off with, ‘I didn’t want to address it,’” the NBA Champion added. “‘I wasn’t going to address it. But since the video came out, I feel the need to address it.’ Are you kidding me? If there was one person that couldn’t wait until the video had dropped so you could address it, it was your a**. Like, seriously?”
The Lakers star then clarified his initial intent behind approaching Smith, explaining how it wasn’t about being mad at the First Take host for doing his job as a commentator. “He completely missed the whole point. The whole point,” James said. “Never would I ever not allow people who talk about the sport to criticize players about what they do on the court. That is your job to criticize, or when a guy isn’t performing. That is all part of the game.”
He continued, “When you take it and get personal with it, it’s my job not only to protect my damn household but protect the players.”
The Ohio native also had to throw a jab in there by insinuating Smith is going to be excited that he’s acknowledging him and giving him more to talk about. “I think a lot of the media, including him – and I know he’s going to be happy as hell when he hears me talking about him. He’s going to get home and grab some ice cream out of the f**king freezer and sit In his chair in his tighty-whities on the couch. Relax, bro,” Bron teased.
During March 6’s NBA exhibition match between the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks, James approached Smith on the sidelines and confronted him about his comments about Bronny. Footage shows the NBA champion sternly telling the journalist, “Stop sh*tting on my son.”
Throughout the season, Smith has said, “I am pleading with LeBron James as a father: Stop this,” Smith said on “First Take” the next morning. “Stop this. We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad.”
The analyst responded on his own platform the day after the game saying, “What I would have said… ‘I never would have spoken negatively about your son, I was talking about you, LeBron James.’ I have nothing but good wishes for Bronny James. I hope that he flourishes into an NBA star… I sincerely hope he’s the exception — he’s a wonderful kid. He’s a rookie… he’ll be just fine. But I was talking about the position that he was put in by his dad.” Rewatch the incident and Bron’s latest response above.
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