Shannon Sharpe has had his fair share of hot takes. Since retiring from the NFL as one of the best tight ends to play the game, he’s been an a trusted sports analyst. He puts his views across well, but sometimes they get him in trouble.
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In a recent episode of his Nightcap podcast, Sharpe admitted to his cohost Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson that he’d been lured into talking about the ongoing beef between one of his ESPN colleagues and an NBA icon, the “face of the league” if you will.
Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James got into a heated spat when the ESPN media personality criticized Bronny James and said he wasn’t ready for the NBA. He felt the rookie should be playing in the G League, a comment to which King James took offense.
The NBA star also felt that his parenting skills were being disrespected, and that spurred him to confront Smith on the sidelines at a recent game.
Their beef hasn’t simmered. Smith fueled the fire by discussing the issue further on Gil’s Arena, and that prompted a response from James on The Pat McAfee Show. And then along came Sharpe, who tried to avoid the subject but then said he felt “we have to talk about it now.”
Sharpe advised closure, “I wish Stephen A. would have just left it alone. Once it happened… address it, this is what happened… I’m going to address it now, and I’m going to be done with it.”
He added, “Stirring up old ish, it still smells. Every time Stephen A. talks about it, it stirs it up again. I see both sides of the equation, but Stephen A. just needs to let it go. He needs to let it go, and now… I don’t think LeBron was coming to hit you; LeBron was coming to tell you to ‘just stop talking about my son.’ You said ‘as a father,’ now you’re making it personal.”
Sharpe expressed how he felt LeBron received it, saying, “You’re making it seem that I’m not a good father. That I’m not putting my son in a position to be successful…. LeBron took it a certain way. Am I surprised LeBron responded the way he did so publicly? Because LeBron is a very private person, he might have an issue with someone and you will never know it… for him to do that at a game… lets you know how upset he was at Stephen A. and what he had been saying.”
“If I’m Stephen A… now it’s time to move on… that’s what I would wish Stephen A. would do.” Johnson said he was “sure Stephen A. would respond” to the appearance and what LeBron had to say.
After going into detail about what he felt Stephen A. should have done and how the situation should unfold following LeBron’s appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Sharpe recounted an interaction with Kevin Durant after what he said following his trade to the Phoenix Suns.
“You got beef with me? You don’t like me or something?” recalled Sharpe KD asking him. Durant added, “The way you talk.” Sharpe told him that it was just his “passion” coming through and that he was “very careful about what I say.” He told KD it was only ever about what he did on the court.
He later told Durant if “I don’t like you, you’d know it.” He also revealed they’ve talked without issue in the last two years or so.
KD & Sharpe haven’t always been cool
Johnson praised KD for being one of the elite players to be accessible on social media, but it hasn’t always been the same experience for Sharpe.
In 2021, the pair had an exchange on Twitter about a fake quote that Durant had allegedly said about winning championships. KD came back at Shannon for saying it on TV, questioning why Sharpe had pushed the fake quotes on national television.
As things continued to escalate, the media personality blocked him after telling him he wouldn’t air their differences on social media and that he wasn’t hard to find if KD wanted to talk to him.
Since then, things have calmed down, as Sharpe has unblocked him. It was a very short-lived saga, as he apologized to the star and admitted he was wrong with his claims.
KD has been impactful against media personalities, with Sharpe just one example. Stephen A. Smith, who is continuing the beef with LeBron James, Kendrick Perkins, who KD called a “sellout” and made him cry on TV, and Michael Rapaport have all felt his wrath in recent times.
