“How Dare You Hit LeBron James In The Balls”: Stephen A. Smith Livid At Dillon Brooks As He Questions His S*xuality

LeBron James had quite a bit of trash talk directed his way from Dillon Brooks after the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of their first round series. Brooks did everything from call James ‘old’ to claim he wouldn’t respect him until he dropped 40 points on the Grizzlies.

The 4x Finals MVP, as expected, got wind of this and during his pregame media availability prior to Game 3 said he’s ‘done with the bulls**t’ and was ready to play. Well, he sure did come out to play as did every single Lakers player in that game as they opened up a 29-point lead in the first half with ease.

During that game, Brooks was noticeably horrid on the offensive end of the floor. He had merely 7 points on 3-13 shooting from the field. His ‘crowning’ moment from the game however, was when he assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected.

Stephen A. Smith on Dillon Brooks and his foul on LeBron James

It had not even been 20 seconds into the second half before Dillon Brooks tried to cover LeBron James full-court. In doing so, he seemingly hit James in the groin, leading to an automatic Flagrant 2 assessment. This results in a player being ejected from the game.

LeBron has had groin injuries before, most famously in the 2018-19 season, his first year with the Lakers. Stephen A. Smith, upon seeing this from Brooks, immediately took to his ‘Know Mercy’ podcast to call out Brooks, questioning whether he has a girlfriend and if so, how he could do that to LeBron.

“Dillon Brooks, we don’t hit another man in the balls. It is a crime. You don’t do that. Shame on you. Don’t you have a girl? What if LeBron had done that to you? Obviously I’m saying girl because I assume he’s a heterosexual like I’m a heterosexual. How dare you do something like that, what a crime!” said Smith.

Dillon Brooks do you not have a girl? pic.twitter.com/EfHcJ3pjMY

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) April 25, 2023

LeBron James had an ample amount of praise for Ja Morant

Ja Morant had a historic offensive outing in Game 3 of the Lakers-Grizzlies series. Despite having a right hand injury, he would show out and drop 45 points on the purple and gold, including 22 points straight in the 4^th quarter to give LeBron James and company quite the scare.

James and Anthony Davis, after the game, were beyond impressed with the Murray State alum. The former even referenced his own ’29 out of 30 points’ game against Detroit in the 2007 ECF when talking about how good Morant had been.