Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James addressed his courtside confrontation with ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith on Wednesday for the first time since their March 6 interaction.
“He’s on, like, a Taylor Swift tour run right now,” James said on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
During a timeout in the second half of the Lakers’ 113-109 overtime win over the New York Knicks, James confronted Smith, who was sitting courtside with Endeavor chief executive Ari Emanuel and actor/comedian Larry David near the Lakers’ bench.
According to Smith, who said he was reluctant to address the situation until it went viral on social media, James told him, “Stop f—ing with my son.” Smith has since done multiple interviews discussing the interaction with James, including calling it “weak” and “some bulls—t” on the “Gil’s Arena” podcast.
James pushed back on Wednesday, stating that Smith, one of the biggest stars in sports media, enjoyed milking the interaction publicly.
“It started off with, ‘I didn’t want to address it,’” James said. “‘I wasn’t going to address it. But since the video came out, I feel the need to address it.’ M——f——, are you kidding me? If there was one person that couldn’t wait until the video had dropped so you could address it, it was your ass. Like, seriously?”
The tension appeared to stem from just over a month prior, when Smith was critical of Bronny James after going scoreless in 15 minutes in a 118-104 road loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Jan. 28.
“I am pleading with LeBron James as a father: Stop this,” Smith said on “First Take” the next morning. “Stop this. We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad.”
Smith also took issue with the nature of the public confrontation, griping that James could have spoken with him privately but chose not to. “LeBron James knows how to get in touch with me if he wanted to,” Smith said March 7. “He never called.”
James said Wednesday that Smith “completely missed the whole point” of why he confronted him and what his issue with him is.
“Never would I ever not allow people to talk about the sport, criticize players about what they do on the court,” James told McAfee. “That is your job to criticize or to be in a position where, OK, if a guy is not performing, that is all part of the game. That’s all part of the game. But when you take it and get personal with it, it’s my job to not only protect my damn household, but protect the players. And I think a lot of the media, including him — and I know he’s gonna be happy as hell.
“He’s gonna be smiling from ear to ear when he hears me talking about him again. 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. Like, dude, like, relax, bro. Like, relax. Like, seriously.”
(Photo: Nathan Ray Seebeck / Imagn Images)
