The ongoing drama between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith, which intensified this week after the NBA star’s interview with Pat McAfee, is hard to overlook. However, not everyone at ESPN is enjoying it. In a recent interview with Fox Corporation-owned OutKick, longtime Pardon The Interruption host Michael Wilbon addressed this issue and more.
Wilbon expressed his belief that “no one has been better with the media” than LeBron James, yet he feels that some of James’ recent criticisms, including those aimed at Brian Windhorst, are “beneath him.” He firmly stated, “Brian Windhorst is great at what he does… and I will vouch for him anytime, against anyone.” When questioned about the fairness of sports media coverage of LeBron, Wilbon pushed back, arguing that modern players’ perspectives on this are misguided. “I have heard this from players like Kevin Durant lately,” he noted. “They say the previous generation of players were not criticized like they are. Fuck that. They better wake the fuck up.” He added, “Everyone gets criticized. They are just too young to know what the hell they are talking about. But maybe I’m just old.”
The conversation then shifted to social media, which, along with analytics, has been a longstanding issue for the 66-year-old Wilbon. “I’m not a child of this era. I am a child of the mainstream media,” he explained. “There is no accountability in this world. I had to be accountable to bosses and editors. These people on the internet don’t.” Returning to the topic of LeBron vs. Smith, Wilbon made it clear he sees little value in the escalating drama, expressing his wish that Windhorst wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire. “This whole LeBron and Stephen A. stuff, I just can’t. Enough. Stop it,” he remarked. “I’m too old for it. I am too old to consume it. But Windhorst didn’t deserve it.”
When it was mentioned that ESPN and FS1 reportedly discussed Bronny James more than MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander this season, Wilbon was blunt. “Let me be clear: our business is a piece of shit a lot of days,” he stated. “There is nobody enforcing standards or having tough conversations. This is what happens when you no longer have functioning newsrooms because everyone is working from hotel rooms, from their bedrooms, and maybe even from their beds. Our business is just shit some days. It just is.”
