There is no love lost between Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar appeared on Wednesday’s edition of The Pat McAfee Show for a lengthy and wide-ranging interview, where, unsurprisingly, Smith was a topic of discussion following their recent viral incident.
During the interview, James didn’t hold back, stating that Smith is on a “Taylor Swift tour run right now,” referencing a public spat over comments made about James’ son, Bronny, and his playing time with the Lakers. James remarked, “When you take it and you 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. Oh my God, he’s gonna get home, grab some ice cream out of the f**king freezer and sit in his chair in his tighty whities on the couch… like, dude, like relax, bro, like relax, like seriously.”
In response, Smith fired back during his podcast later that night, declaring, “I just want to say, for the record, LeBron James is full of it. And in this particular instance, as it pertains to his son, he is a liar. And he went on national television today and he lied again.” He recounted an encounter during the third quarter of a Lakers game, explaining, “I didn’t know he was going to roll up on me. I had no idea. But when he said what he had to say, I was in no position to give any kind of retort without making a scene. It was during the third quarter, fresh out of a timeout; cameras were rolling, and had I done something, what do you want me to do? Act like this is the reincarnation of Chris Rock and Will Smith?”
Continuing, Smith stated, “Let me assure you it wouldn’t have gone down like that. I would have gotten my ass kicked. Because if that man put his hands on me, I would’ve immediately swung on him. Immediately. That, I’m not going to tolerate. But I knew he wasn’t going to do something like that.” While Smith’s speculation on a potential brawl with someone twice his size was surprising, it distracted from his main point: he believes James mischaracterized his earlier comments about Bronny. Smith clarified, “I have not been talking about Bronny James. I have not, as LeBron James accused me of doing to my face, been shitting on his son. I clapped back at D-Wade and Melo, two brothers I love dearly, when they were talking about this, even though 99% of the stuff they said was right. I was not clapping back at his son.”
Despite not knowing the exact words exchanged between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith during their encounter, one thing remains clear: neither will be sending Christmas cards to the other anytime soon.
