The saga between Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James adds a new chapter. The Lakers superstar infamously confronted the popular analyst during LA’s March 6th home game against the Knicks, where he berated him for constantly criticizing his son Bronny. Smith addressed the viral incident the next day on ESPN First Take, acknowledging that James was speaking to him “as a parent” and that he held no ill-will toward him. It seemed that the story had finally been losing some steam.
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That was until audio of LBJ speaking with Richard Jefferson about the confrontation surfaced online. “I don’t give a f**k. Once he talks about, ‘I’m pleading to you as a father.’ I can’t,” James frustratingly said to his old teammate. Well, SAS has heard this audio as well, and unlike his first response, is now taking the fight to the future Hall of Famer.
“So it wasn’t about Bronny. It was about him,” the analyst viciously stated on his YouTube show. “Once he said ‘as a father,’ that was about him, which was my point January 29th. It’s been about you.” SAS later claimed that he never wanted to bring Bronny into this negative limelight, especially since it was still early in the 20-year-old rookie’s career. While it seemed that Smith wanted to stay on the subject, he then shifted to speaking about LBJ’s agent, Rich Paul.
Smith spoke in detail about the level of love he has for Paul. “We don’t always agree, as a matter of fact most of the time we don’t agree at all but we talk and I respect the hell out of him. I got a lot of love for Rich,” SAS stated. Smith indicated that he and Paul spoke about the LeBron incident “man to man.” “He [Rich Paul] would have never did what LeBron James did Thursday night. He never would have done that,” Smith concluded.
Paul has also been vocal about his friendship with SAS in the past as well, saying “that’s my guy” while On Gil’s Arena in September of 2023. Though, if it were to come down to taking sides, there should be no doubt that he would side with LeBron over the ‘First Take‘ host.
SAS then reiterated that many players didn’t get the same kind of coverage that Bronny got, but having LBJ as his father made him different. He continued on his cyclical rant, breaking down why he took the path he did over the last couple months before revealing that he would talk about the situation even further on Gil’s Arena in the upcoming days.
The portion of the story that SAS seems to forget is how he fired the first round publicly. As the most popular sports analyst on television, his reach tends to bring the most amount of eyes on any given story. LeBron making a scene, regardless if it was for himself or Bronny, is just him returning rounds. Smith painted himself into this corner.
LBJ may have won the public argument, but the basketball gods may have felt differently. The 40-year-old sustained a groin injury that will keep him sidelined for the next few weeks. Whether that absence gives him more time to ignite this SAS feud, or steadily prepare for the Lakers playoff run, has yet to be determined.
