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The ongoing Stephen A. Smith-LeBron James feud has escalated.
A very public back and forth between the ESPN pundit and Los Angeles Lakers star continued Wednesday night when Smith went on his live YouTube show and responded to James blasting him on ESPN's "Pat McAfee Show" earlier in the day.
The crux of the conversation is Smith's coverage of James' son Bronny. LeBron approached Smith courtside during a March 6 Lakers game, reportedly saying ‘Yo, you gotta stop talking s*** about my son. You gotta stop f***ing with my son. That’s my son, that’s my son!'"
Smith was not amused, saying James' confrontation was 'bulls*** and weak." James said his part Wednesday by painting the incident as him protecting his family.
Hours later, Smith had a lot more to say.
First, he said he has no issue with his ESPN colleague in McAfee bringing James on to criticize him, as that's the nature of their line of work. Then he accused James of lying about his coverage of Bronny and whipped out a Chris Rock-Will Smith comparison.
Smith claimed that had James touched him, he would have taken a swing at the Lakers star then immediately experienced a bad time:
"I just want to say for the record LeBron James is full of it and in this particular instance, as it pertains to his son, he is a liar. He went on national television today and he lied again. You see, when he approached me while I was sitting courtside at that game against the New York Knicks, when he rolled up on me, I didn't know he was going to roll up on me. I had no idea, but when he said what he had to say, I was in no position to give any kind of retort without making a scene.
"It was during the third quarter, it was fresh out of a timeout, it was him walking to the basketball court, it was on national television, the cameras were rolling and had I done something, what do y'all want me to do? Do you want this to be a reincarnation of Chris Rock and Will Smith?
Let me state for the record that while we bring up that, let me assure you it wouldn't have gone down like that. I would have gotten my ass kicked, because had that man put his hands on me, I would have immediately swung on him. Immediately. That, I'm not going to tolerate. But I knew he wasn't going to do something like that.
James responded hours later on Instagram, with a video of Smith doing some training.
To be fair to Smith, he was pretty clear that taking a swing at James would have not gone well.
As expected, Smith had something to say about James' Instagram post Thursday. In a lengthy monologue on "First Take," Smith said James was "in his feelings." Smith also claimed James was holding a grudge because Smith believes Michael Jordan is the basketball GOAT.
"He puts out some page about me boxing and all of this other stuff from a decade ago with two torn rotator cuffs, fine, no problem. It's very, very embarrassing video, I'll be the first to say and all that stuff. Even though I like it to be left up there because if people think I want to throw hands like that, that's how I throw hands, knock yourself out. I'm good with that. I know that the man today is not the man that I was a decade ago, physically and beyond. I can tell you that.
So, we get that out the way. Why do I bring that up? Because that's how petty you've become? You're LeBron James. You're that butt hurt over the things that I'm saying that you would post that video. When has LeBron James ever done something like that? But suddenly you're doing that as it pertains to me. This man is in his feelings. I wonder why?
Could it be because I don't believe you're the GOAT? Because I'll never believe you're the GOAT? Because I have you No. 2 at all times?
Smith then praised James for all his accomplishments away from the course, but said James only care about being called the GOAT.
Again, it was Smith's comments about Bronny that started this whole back-and-forth. Smith's overall position was essentially that he has fairly covered Bronny's NBA career, which began when he was selected by his father's team in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft. Bronny has seen sporadic minutes as a rookie, moving between the Lakers and their G League affiliate in South Bay.
Smith claims that James has interpreted a statement of fact as excessively harsh criticism of his son, whom James had been open for years about getting to the NBA so they could play together:
"I'm getting very annoyed at people who cover the game of basketball, who cover professional sports, pundits out there including him, his inner circle, his family members and everybody else included, when are y'all going to ask him or hold him accountable for the truth. I have not been talking about Bronny James. I have not, as LeBron James accused me of doing to my face, been s***ting on his son.
"It was not clapping back at his son. You're second-round pick, 55th overall, there have been plenty of second-round picks that have worked their way up through the ranks before getting to the pro level. Me pointing that out about his son and talking about how his son has been pushed to the forefront, thereby putting him in a line of fire for folks in the media to come at him, is not denigrating his son. It's simply highlighting what we all knew, which is he's not ready yet.
Smith went on to praise Bronny's recent performance, which included a career-high 17 points in a game the Lakers were significantly short-handed and a 39-point eruption in the G League on Monday.
Another idea Smith objected to was the notion he was doing all this for ratings. He was frank about the dynamics at play there:
"I don't need something like this to happen to talk about LeBron. He plays for the Lakers. He is LeBron James. I don't need an incident like this to talk about LeBron James.
"Do I use him for ratings? You're damn right. Because I use anything in the news for ratings, because I'm a reporter and a personality and a pundit and a commentator. That's my career. Of course I talk about him. Of course I talk about anything relevant in the news."
Clearly, Smith is bothered about how this is going down. As for James, well, he began Wednesday's game against the Indiana Pacers with only three points on 0-for-6 shooting in the first three quarters before posting 10 in the fourth and tipping in a game-winning buzzer-beater.
