Media members have to trudge across a fine line when it comes to the criticism they dish out. Stephen A Smith seems to have crossed that line, leading to a verbal confrontation with LeBron James during Friday night’s Lakers-Knicks game. While LBJ is being lauded for this, DeMarcus Cousins finds it to be muddled in double standards.
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Smith’s comments on Bronny are what irked the Lakers superstar after the G-League star had a poor outing in garbage time for the purple and gold many weeks ago. “Stop f*****g with my son,” said James to SAS on the sidelines.
Stephen A addressed this interaction both on First Take and his own show. “As a father, I get it. I’m not offended, I’m not insulted, I don’t have any animosity or animus towards LeBron James for this,” said the analyst on the former.
Stephen A. Smith continued to talk about his relationship with LeBron James and the confrontation.
“As a father, I get it. I’m not offended, I’m not insulted, I don’t have any animosity or animus towards LeBron James for this… I don’t think he cares, but neither do I… if I… pic.twitter.com/U9Pd9UUrxz
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 7, 2025
The general consensus here has been that LeBron did the absolute right thing. Speaking ill on someone’s family is never advised regardless of your own stature in the media.
Cousins got wind of this debacle and took to X to air out his own personal grievances with the topic. Instead of siding with James, he revealed how he dealt with something similar during his Sacramento days and was bashed for the way he protected his family.
“I was called a villain, bully, thug when I confronted a reporter for speaking on my family,” said DeMarcus. The incident he’s referring to is his dust-up with then Sacramento Bee columnist, Andy Furillo, in 2016.
It’s cool when they do it , it’s a problem when I do it…I was called a villain, bully,thug when I confronted a reporter for speaking on my family. Got suspended fined and eventually traded. I Look forward to getting my lick back!
— DeMarcus Cousins (@boogiecousins) March 7, 2025
Cousins claimed that Furillo had it out for him and in one specific piece of his, brought his brother Jaleel into the mix. Three days after the column was released, Boogie confronted him, going on a profanity-laced tirade saying, “We’re going to have some real f***ing issues. Don’t ever mention my brother again.”
The All-Star center was fined $50,000 for this outburst of his. At the height of his popularity, Cousins was not particularly liked by fans or the media. So, the way LeBron has been getting backed online wasn’t all too plausible for Boogie at that stage of his career. That doesn’t mean he’s wrong to question the double standards online.
Upon reflecting on this incident last year, Cousins did express a bit of regret. “At the end of the day looking back on it – one, I was raised better. Two- I was raised to respect my elders right, so, I definitely pressed that old man a little too hard.”
Regardless, calling out family of the players is certainly not fair from the media unless they have done something which impacts the image of the player. It also shows how tougher player-media relations are getting in the NBA.
