Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James have been the talk of the town after the four-time NBA MVP approached the media personality mid-game and explicitly told him to leave his son alone. The First Take host has been discussing the topic nonstop, and he recently revealed the real reason why he and James have tension.
“We may never speak in life again. I’m fine with it,” he said on the latest episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show. “I get paid to talk about folks, not to them. I cover the league. You play, I watch, dissect, analyze and broadcast. We don’t get along. And there’s a multitude of [reasons] why I have alluded to some of them, but we know what the biggest reason is.”
He proceeded to touch on the ongoing debate over who is the greatest basketball player of all time between LBJ and Michael Jordan. “I ain’t Shannon Sharpe,” Smith added. “It ain’t GOAT status this way. My GOAT is Michael Jordan. […] [James] Ain’t my GOAT. I watch the game. I’m a student of the game. I know a GOAT when I see one.”
This is admittedly an interesting take on the situation from Stephen A. Smith, as he has been having the Michael Jordan-LeBron James debate for years, but LBJ did not approach him in this manner until his son, Bronny James got involved. Smith has been critical of the Los Angeles Lakers superstar for saying his son was better than certain G League players before he even entered the league, and then maneuvering the 2024 NBA Draft so that he could land on the Lakers. Smith also has held LeBron to the fire for having his son split time between playing for the Lakers and their G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, despite seemingly not being ready for the NBA.
“You see, I don’t run and hide,” he said on The Stephen A. Smith Show. “If I’m wrong, I’ll say I’m wrong. If I’m right. I’m right. I was never sh*tting on Bronny James. I wouldn’t do that to the James family. I was talking about one person, and one person only.”
In nine G League games with the South Bay Lakers, Bronny is averaging 20 points, five rebounds, and five assists. He hasn’t logged significant playing time whenever he has appeared in Los Angeles Lakers games given their roster strength and intention of being a championship contender. Many believe Bronny would have benefitted from spending more time in college or being primarily a G Leaguer player. Some have also said that LeBron James is essentially forcing him into the NBA so they can make history by being the first father-son duo to play together, a selfish move.
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