Much has been said and written about LeBron James’ altercation with Stephen A. Smith. It’s the most viral clip on X from the NBA and has been discussed as much as the Luka Doncic trade. LeBron is not known for confronting media personalities, no matter what they say. He hasn’t even acknowledged Skip Bayless in all these years, and there is no denying that took a level of self-control only a handful have been blessed with.
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He finally cracked on Thursday night when he saw Stephen A. Smith sitting courtside. The 6ft 9″ legend approached Smith and had a heated exchange. Not exchange, actually. It was more a one-sided, passionate rebuke.
Stephen A. Smith addressed it on First Take but refused to disclose what LeBron really said to him. The only detail he clarified was that James confronted Smith over statements he had made about Bronny James.
On the Stephen A. Smith show, where the ESPN host has a lot more freedom, the 57-year-old talked of the ‘conversation‘ in detail. Firstly, he refuted claims that James had called him a “b*tch” and a “punk.”
Smith then revealed, LeBron “approached me during the game, and he said, stop effing with my son.” All Smith could say in response was “Na, Na, Na.”
After realising how furious James was, Smith offered to talk to the Lakers superstar about it later, but LeBron outright rejected the idea.
Smith went on to acknowledge a few players in the league have not appreciated his comments on the Lakers rookie. He also revealed Draymond Green is one of them.
Smith claimed “one player in particular was Draymond Green, who I haven’t spoken to since, and has no desire to speak to me primarily because of this.”
Much of what Stephen A. addressed after that he had already pretty much spoken about on First Take. The only other thing that stood out was his response to Kevin Love.
He reiterated he had no intentions of talking about the incident, but his bosses weren’t going to let him stay quiet. He said “I work for ESPN. And ESPN called me this morning.”
Smith claimed his ESPN bosses told him there was no way around the situation and he had to address it. “What you mean you ain’t talking about it? You most certainly have to talk about it. This directly involves you. And LeBron James is the biggest story in the country right now in sport,” Smith disclosed.
Honestly, it doesn’t matter who convinced Smith to talk about it but there was absolutely no way he could have gotten away without addressing it. As a media personality, he does not have the same privilege athletes do.
And while Love’s tweet did point out the contradiction in Stephen A.’s statement, at the end of the day, the First Take host’s job requires him to talk about these incidents, even if they involve him.
