“In His Tighty-whities on the Couch”: LeBron James Doesn’t Hold Back While Mocking Stephen A. Smith’s “Taylor Swift” Tour

LeBron James has never been known to publicly address his detractors, but he made an exception after Stephen A. Smith went on multiple podcasts to discuss their altercation. LeBron knows that criticisms about his game are part of the job, but when things became personal, he felt the need to address the longtime sports analyst.

Stephen A. has been critical of James’ son, Bronny, ever since he entered the NBA Draft last year. Smith revealed that his conversation with James regarding his critical comments about the Lakers rookie has drawn backlash from those who believe the chat should never have gone public.

James finally addressed the incident during his appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, where he absolutely ridiculed the First Take host. The 40-year-old didn’t hold back, insulting Smith for attempting to gain publicity from an altercation that never needed to see the light of day.

LeBron pointed out Stephen A.’s original comments about his conversation with him, recalling how the 57-year-old insisted he didn’t want to discuss the situation publicly but felt like he had to once a video was released.

“Are you kidding me? If there’s one person who couldn’t wait for the video to drop so you could talk about it and address it, it is your a**,” James mocked Smith. Stephen A. has been talking about LeBron for years, but his recent podcast expedition proved to be enough to finally get a reaction out of the four-time MVP.

“He’s like on a Taylor Swift tour run right now,” James said of Smith, who has made it his mission to talk about his altercation with the Lakers star wherever he goes. LeBron stressed that he’d never stop analysts from sharing their opinions when players aren’t performing, but Stephen A. went too far this time.

“But when you get personal with it, it’s not only my job to protect my damn household, but protect the players,” James continued. In the end, though, LeBron knows that any reaction from him will be viewed as a win in Stephen A’s eyes.

“I know [Smith’s] gonna be happy as he**, he’s gonna be smiling from ear-to-ear when he hears me talking about him,” James said with a giddy smile. “He’s gonna get home and grab some ice cream out of the f***ing freezer and sit in his chair in his tighty-whities on the couch… Dude, like relax bro.”

McAfee did share his hope that LeBron and Stephen A. would eventually be able to sit down and have a face-to-face conversation. But considering the tension that has built between the two over the past two decades, it seems unlikely that they’ll be able to hash out their differences.