Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
Audio By Carbonatix
Stephen A. Smith has opened up about his relationship, or lack thereof, with Los Angeles Lakers forward and NBA legend LeBron James. According to Smith, he does not like the future Hall of Famer and four-time NBA champion.
Whatever issues LeBron James and Stephen A.Smith came to a head back in March when LeBron confronted the ESPN personality at a Los Angeles Lakers game over comments he made about his son Bronny James.
What SAS had essentially said was Bronny was not ready for the NBA level and that LeBron was “exposing” him for having him playing at the level (everyone here is making the assumption that LeBron decided when and where Bronny traveled with the first team, which is likely true).
“He’s doing great in the G-League because thats where he belongs. In 13 games he has played 44 minutes, scored 4 points on 1-16 fg and 0-7 from 3. He’s not ready yet, you’re exposing your son,” Smith said on First Take earlier this year.
LeBron got in Smith’s face while he was courtside at a Lakers game, which led to further fallout between the pair and Smith ultimately don’t Rolling Stone they don’t like each other.
“I don’t like him, and he don’t like me. 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,” Smith told Rolling Stone.
“When he does great, I’m gonna applaud. When he doesn’t do great, I’m not gonna 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.”
Regardless of how LeBron ultimately felt about Smith questioning his abilities as a father or calling him out on national TV, the First Take star was undoubtedly right about Bronny James not being ready to play in the NBA, as he averaged 2.3 points, 0.7 rebounds, and 0.8 assists per game, while shooting 31.3% from the field, in 27 appearances and one start.