Stephen A. Smith Believes LeBron James Is Being ‘Petty’ Over Smith Naming Michael Jordan as the GOAT

Stephen A. Smith is still on a ‘Taylor Swift tour run” following LeBron James’ viral interview with Pat McAfee. The Lakers superstar broke his silence regarding his feud with the ESPN analyst ahead of Los Angeles’ game against the Pacers. Of course, Smith wouldn’t pass on the opportunity to speak on the four-time NBA champion. In his defense, he states that James is being “petty” because Smith believes Michael Jordan—not James—is the greatest player ever.

On Wednesday afternoon, LeBron shocked the sports world with a massive interview on The Pat McAfee Show. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer touched on various topics, including his recent confrontation with the First Take star. James stated his feelings toward Smith had nothing to do with his criticism of him as a basketball player.

Smith initially responded to LeBron’s comments on The Stephen A. Show on Wednesday evening. He boldly claimed, “Had that man put his hands on me, I would have immediately swung on him.” The back-and-forth between the two seemed to have entered murky waters until LeBron poked fun at Smith’s fighting skills on Instagram by posting a video of him boxing.

 

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During Thursday morning’s episode of First Take, Smith responded to James’ comments and the viral Instagram post mocking him. He claims that the 6-foot-9 star forward has hurt feelings for one reason.

“That’s how petty you’ve become?” Smith said. “When has LeBron James ever done something like that? This man is in his feelings. I wonder why? Could it be because I don’t believe you’re the GOAT?”

Smith’s claim that LeBron is acting petty is undeniably true, but his reasoning may not be. James’ distaste of Smith is due to his comments insulting his abilities as a father and the constant negative comments made toward his family and himself.

Although there are many LeBron haters, the majority of fans have sided with the Lakers star in this situation. Several have rallied on X to show their support for James.

One user calls out hypocrisy on Smith’s part, attesting that the ESPN analyst is the one who is petty. They posted, “LeBron posted that 10 hours ago. It’s obvious you’ve been festering and didn’t get any sleep, then you come on national television calling him petty, sir…take a long hard look.”

Another user doubles down on LeBron’s point on McAfee’s show stating that Smith has missed the point. His belief that this is surrounding the GOAT debate is another example of how severely off-base he is. They posted, “Him thinking LeBron has a problem with him over where he ranks him all time just tells me how tone deaf he is about the comments he spews out of his mouth.”

In the past, Smith was able to appease to the general public. However, that doesn’t seem like it’s the case any longer. The NBA world is siding with LeBron, which is setting the scene for the near future to be quite entertaining.