It’s no secret that Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and a notable sports analyst aren’t best friends.
Still, it appeared the two were capable of operating cordially after both parties spoke about their Mar. 6 showdown calmly (James appeared on the Pat McAfee show, and the ESPN host discussed the confrontation on his popular First Take program).
However, after James practically confirmed his retirement decision in a June 17. interview with the Associated Press (he hinted at a return for Year 23), it appears the four-time NBA champion has a new enemy in the sports world.
“I don’t like him (James), and he don’t like me,” Stephen A. Smith told the Rolling Stone’s Danyel Smith on Wednesday. “He’s one of the greatest players who’s ever lived. I’m going to show him that respect, and I’m going to cover him objectively. When he does great, I’m going to applaud. When he doesn’t do great, I’m not going to applaud.”
“He hid behind his son, tried to make something out of nothing, as if I was dogging his son, which I was not. The real issue was we don’t like each other. And he used that as an excuse to confront me. I got it.”
It all started when Smith spoke about James’s son, Bronny, after the rookie guard had a rough Jan. 28 outing against the Philadelphia 76ers.
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“I am pleading with LeBron James as a father, stop this,” Smith said on First Take the following day. “Stop this. We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad. The first game of the season, opening night, the Griffeys in attendance, father-son duo playing in an NBA game for the first time, an absolutely, positively wonderful story. And then reality sets in.”
James didn’t take kindly to Smith’s remarks about Bronny, compelling him to express his feelings to Smith’s face before the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ Mar. 6 home contest against the New York Knicks.
In a viral X/Twitter video posted by ‘Legion Hoops’, it’s reasonable to assume that James didn’t mince his words on Bronny’s behalf, as the four-time NBA champion was visibly frustrated while speaking to the popular media personality.
While it’s unfortunate that James and Smith haven’t improved their relationship since the three-month-old incident, it was beneficial for Smith to set the record straight during his recent sit-down.
Showing fake love is never an appropriate solution; therefore, the 57-year-old made the correct decision to announce that he and James aren’t on good terms.
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